Going Green: Changing the Pattern of Waste

Imagine what would happen if the retail giants would do just one simple thing to 'Green' up.....

Stop throwing away the merchandise that doesn't sell within a predetermined time period .  

Many people fail to realize that, when a selling period ends, anything from books and glass, to styrofoam-laden seasonal decorations, shelving and more go straight to the dump to make way for the next round of mostly trivial trinkets.

If retailers cannot bear to revamp their vendor policies and buying habits and feel that creating so much waste is more financially profitable, why can't they forward their "garbage"  to waste processing centers, where trash is sorted and transformed into recyclable material.

Why not donate many of these items to schools, shelters or nursing homes? If a product is already marked as garbage, then why does it matter if it goes into a compactor or to someone who can put it to good use.

Using the fast-growing 'creativity' industry (sewing, fiber art supplies, home decorating needs) as an example, let's examine the reality of the situation : 

Anyone who sells crafts and fabrics, patterns, notions, etc. will clear out space (merchandise) to make room for a new selling period, and current seasonal items. This means anywhere from 50-100 clothing patterns (completely untouched, brand new, never opened ) will go into the dump, along with all the outdated pattern books and displays,  at least once a month.

What would happen if these pattern books, and the unsold patterns were donated to high schools, colleges and even nursing homes and assisted living facilities?   It would result in MORE SALES! Once a pattern is selected, it requires $10-30 or more for fabric, notions,and trims. Furthermore, once a customer comes in the door, they will more than likely purchase other items as well. Why else do retailers preach so loudly about suggestive selling?

A small bit of calculating ensues:

Figure a modestly-sized city, with at least 20 Junior, Middle, and High Schools:

20 schools with home-ec programs
Each school with at least 3 home-ec classes (totally a guesstimation) per 9-week session
Each class holding, say, 15 students
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180 x 20=3600 students per school year.

3600 students are given full access to discontinued pattern books, and patterns, will all now need to go to their local fabric vendor and purchase the necessary items to complete any given project.   

3600 x $30=$108,000.

And this is the bare minimum guesstimation! How can this possibly hurt the bottom line of any fabric retailer? It brings more traffic in to the store, more product turnover and the potential to increase those $30 tickets to at least $50 or more. When you factor in the free access to all of the discontinued patterns, and distribution to colleges and nursing homes/assisted living facilities the total ADDED revenue skyrockets!

Perhaps manufacturers and vendors of consumer goods should offer their kickbacks (for lack of a better term) to buyers and distributors when unsold goods are donated, and maybe even implement penalties if those items are returned or thrown out.

Of course, it is humanly impossible for the average citizen to calculate the impact of such a decrease in waste going into our landfills, but this is something that manufacturers, buyers, distributors, retailers and customers should all be concerned with!

All the superficial "greening up" efforts are a good starting point.  However, retailers who claim to care about the planet need to step outside the 'bottom line' box, and create new strategies for reducing waste.