Every day, retail stores throw away a great amount of their non-purchased or broken products which causes a lot of problems in today’s world. So why do these retail stores resort to dumpsters rather than donation boxes? The usual case for this is that they throw away the flawed merchandise that nobody would want but when that isn’t the reason it is just a big waste of money when it could be put to use. This also applies to bakeries like donut shops. If you ever see a donut shop after a busy day they throw away all their unsold donuts when they could be donated reducing the waste of product to make the donuts and it is given to the hungry.

So how can we solve this problem? In France, it is illegal to throw away items by retailers and bakeries reducing the waste of products by 10%. Unwanted food and products get donated to organizations instead of getting donated to the local dumpster. If America implemented the practices of managing waste like they do in France, it could lead to positive changes.

If companies continue to throw away their products, should dumpster diving be allowed? Currently, dumpster diving in America is illegal if the products are considered private property and in most cases for stores, it is. Companies have a strong insistence on the demolition of their broken items. If dumpster diving were legal, or if companies stopped throwing their items in the dumpsters as waste, it would benefit everyone.

The disposal of unsold products by retail stores is unnecessary and will only feed into environmental waste. We need to start thinking about our approach to inventory management and think of better alternatives that are very available to contribute to such as donating or repurposing the items. By doing so, we can minimize waste which will move us towards a more sustainable and ethical retail industry.