Addressing Waste
Posted on Friday, January 15th, 2010
Recently Jim Dwyer of the New York Times wrote a segment, taking a snapshot of the retail practice of destroying merchandise that was not purchased before discarding clothing on the curb (“A Clothing Clearance Where More Than Just the Prices Have Been Slashed“). The article focuses primarily on H&M, as well as Wal-Mart’s practice of taking merchandise (soft-goods such as gloves, jackets, shoes, & children’s clothing) and destroying it (with box cutters, scissors, etc.) to render them unusable by anyone going through their dumpsters.
What makes this article so troubling is not just the fact that most, if not all of these goods could be going to help the homeless or to charity but that these same companies that are rolling out ‘green’ products and public strategies. Arguments have been made that these goods must be destroyed as company policy, but even destroying new, unworn clothing in the wake of the tragedy in Haiti, where relief efforts such as clothing for survivors who lost their families, homes and possessions this business practice really goes beyond corporate wastefulness. What is more troubling is that when large retailers, despite very public commitments to become more sustainable entities, carries on with such disregard, it furthers public impressions that sustainability = green washing and smaller companies do not have to invest in reassessing their practices if this really is just a passing fad.
