A shopper discovered a shocking secret in the dumpster of a popular secondhand retailer, sparking a discussion about what happens to unsold donated goods.

What's happening?

A Reddit user posted a photo of a Half Price Books dumpster filled with books, puzzles, DVDs, and CDs. The image of the perfectly usable goods in the trash elicited strong emotions from other members of the r/DumpsterDiving subreddit, where the original poster shared the photo.

"This makes me so sad!" one person wrote. Another called the waste "disgusting," pointing out that Half Price Books, which sells both new and used goods, could have donated the items to free libraries, schools, community centers, and homeless shelters.

The OP said they were similarly disheartened when they stumbled across the discarded products, adding that they rescued many of the items and intended to find them new homes.

"I'd also check with nursing homes, group homes, long term care facilities, etc. My hospital unit keeps a little cart with books for patients!" one commenter recommended. 

Why is this important?

Manufacturing goods requires resources and energy, but as the OP's discovery highlights, this can end up being a sunk cost, as many items end up in methane-producing landfills, contributing to habitat and biodiversity loss as well as the accelerated overheating of the planet.

In fact, if you collected the waste generated globally each year, it would be enough to circle the Earth a whopping 24 times, according to The World Counts.

Many discarded items also contain plastic components or heavy metals, such as lead, which can leach toxic chemicals and other hazardous pollutants into the environment. Residents who live near landfills are particularly vulnerable to the effects of this contamination, as the University of Colorado Boulder details. 

Why would Half Price Books throw away some of its inventory?

On its website, Half Price Books states that "preserving and recycling resources and entertainment of every form" is part of its mission — and that's one reason why it buys and resells most pre-loved goods. "It's economical and a great way to live a more sustainable life and reduce your carbon footprint," Half Price Books writes.

However, according to several former Half Price Books employees, the quality of the donated goods or community infrastructure sometimes throws a wrench in those aims.

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"We donated as MUCH as we possibly could at my location, we had school, prison, library, all kinds of things and we still ended up with an overwhelming amount of stuff that we simply could not do anything with," one person wrote in the r/DumpsterDiving thread.

"The location where I worked had a recycling dumpster for paper and a regular dumpster. Each store is kind of stuck with what kind of recycling services are in their area," another said. 

What can be done to reduce waste more broadly?

One former Half Price Books employee suggested that people offloading old goods to the company should review its requirements, as it receives many non-sellable items.

"We couldn't sort it all," they said. "We also got a TON of items that were moldy, bug infested etc. so if a box of books had one book with mold on it? Entire box goes to [the] garbage."

Multiple commenters also affirmed the benefits of dumpster diving, which is legal in every state, though restrictions may apply on private property. If you choose to salvage goods from a dumpster, make sure you aren't violating trespassing laws and take safety precautions.

Choosing plastic alternatives whenever possible is another proven way to reduce waste. For instance, the world goes through an estimated 5 trillion plastic bags every year. Bringing durable cloth bags to the store instead of purchasing disposable bags at checkout each time will save you cash in the long run while helping to reduce demand for environmentally harmful waste.

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