A Walmart employee visited Reddit to expose what happens to unsold holiday merchandise at their store, causing concern about retail waste during the holiday season.
What's happening?
In a post to the r/walmart community, the worker shared their frustration in the lead-up to last year's Halloween: "i have never seen such a bigger waste of materials than around the holidays. No one buys half this s*** and we just throw it away. The consumerism is disgusting."
The post draws attention to a troubling pattern of overproduction and disposal that peaks during the holiday shopping season. Massive quantities of seasonal decorations, artificial trees, and festive merchandise end up in dumpsters rather than finding new homes.
Why is holiday retail waste concerning?
Manufacturing seasonal items requires a ton of resources, from petroleum-based plastics for artificial trees to rare earth metals in LED lights. When retailers trash unsold inventory, those resources go to waste.
Production releases heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere, while decomposing materials in landfills produce methane, a gas that warms the planet even faster than carbon dioxide. The cycle repeats annually as stores stock fresh inventory each holiday season.
This waste is also a missed opportunity to help needy communities. Decorations that bring joy could brighten shelters, community centers, or homes of families facing financial hardship.
Is Walmart doing anything about this?
Walmart has made some sustainability commitments, such as striving to achieve zero waste in its U.S. operations.
However, the Reddit post suggests that implementation varies by individual location. Some stores may have strong donation partnerships, while others default to disposal. The company's sustainability reports don't address seasonal merchandise disposal practices.
Without clear corporate policies that require donating or recycling unsold holiday items, individual store managers often choose the quickest solution: throwing merchandise away.
What's being done about retail waste more broadly?
Several retailers have pioneered solutions that prove alternatives exist. Target partners with local nonprofits to donate unsold seasonal items, and Costco works with liquidation companies to find secondary markets for excess inventory.
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Definitely 👍 Individual actions can also drive change.
Shopping secondhand for decorations reduces demand for new production. Buying quality items meant to last decades beats replacing decorations annually. And when you spot stores throwing away usable items, share it with local media or community groups that can pressure retailers to donate instead.
Many communities have "Buy Nothing" groups where neighbors share decorations they no longer need. Thrift stores often sell seasonal decorations at a fraction of retail prices.
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