A bakery in northwest China has received multiple thumbs-up from social media users for offering leftover but edible bread for free to people in need.

Located in Xi’an city, northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, the bakery has set up a special shelf outside the shop every morning, inviting anyone who needs food to take two pieces of leftover bread for free, local newspaper Chinese Business View reports.

Since the shelf life of the fresh pastries is quite short and bakeries can only sell products baked within one day, many bakeries are experiencing a large amount of food waste every day.

Normally, for bakeries, they deal with the leftover products by selling them at discounted prices in the afternoon, or cut them into small pieces and serve as samples for the customers. If there are still any left, they then send them to local charities, or just dump everything in the trash.

Unwilling to waste the edible bread, Long Liqiang, owner of the bakery, decided to give the leftovers to those who really need it, and that’s why he set up the special shelf.

According to Long, the bakery will leave a total of 30 to 40 pieces of pastries unsold every day, ranging from yoghurt pastry, bacon cheese toast, corn and ham buns, Danish pizza, sandwiches, etc, which worth more than 200 yuan (29.2 US dollars).

Early the next morning, the shelf placed with leftover bread will be set up outside the shop and would be empty within half an hour.

Influenced by the previous generation, who often experienced poverty and hardship, Long said he wouldn’t waste any food no matter what his living conditions.

A resident surnamed Zhang living in the nearby neighborhood told Chinese Business View that the bakery had been doing this for over a year, offering security guards, sanitation workers as well as old people free bread every day.

In fact, the reason why Long set up a shelf for people to take the bread freely was out of respect for other people’s feelings. In the past, he just brought some leftover products to his friends or directly gave them to some security guards and sanitation workers nearby.

However, he gradually found that people would feel uneasy when receiving them. So, he came up with the idea to set up a special shelf for those who need these products.

“Two pieces of bread may not mean anything to those who are rich, but it could be a meal for those in need,”