If Christmas is the season of giving, then CVS did not get the memo.
TikToker Anna Sacks (@thetrashwalker) posted a video that garnered more than 72,000 likes and over 3,300 comments. In it, piles of black garbage bags are outside a CVS in New York City a day after the holiday.
@thetrashwalker Like clockwork. Wondering when - if ever - corporations like CVS and Hallmark will change. What will it take to stop this endless cycle of overproduction? #nyc #donate #donatedontdump #dumpsterdiving #haul #christmas #xmas #holiday #holidays #winter #santa #shopping #recycle #climatechange #reuse #thrift #decor #free #zerowaste #eco #sustainable #ecofriendly #CapCut ♬ Jazz that Christmas masterpiece 3 - Single Origin Music
"Wondering when — if ever — corporations like CVS and Hallmark will change," Anna wrote in the caption. "What will it take to stop this endless cycle of overproduction?"
Some bags were stuffed with Christmas-themed decorations and gift bags, while others had dog beds, socks, blankets, artificial plants, candy, and dolls — an unsettling number of which were headless.
A few of the other items were destroyed, likely to prevent anyone from using or reselling them.
Nonetheless, Anna neatly laid everything in a suitable condition out on the sidewalk after sifting through the garbage bags, much to the delight of a few locals who capitalized on the opportunity to take some of the stuff home.
The video is just one of many examples of corporations demonstrating wasteful practices with little concern for potential solutions or environmental repercussions.
One shopper exposed Home Depot for preparing to dump shopping carts full of perfectly fine plants. Meanwhile, an employee of Panera Bread captured a photo of bread they were ordered to toss despite being less than 2 miles away from a homeless shelter that could've benefited from a donation.
And like the products from those two examples, the goods from CVS that didn't get picked up likely ended up in a landfill, where they will break down and release planet-warming gases.
The comments section was unsurprisingly filled with angry TikTokers.
"The blankets and socks are killing me!!!" exclaimed one user. "So many shelters can use!!"
"The most sickening part is the amount of work and man hours put in to DAMAGE the stuff to prevent others using it," another said.
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