A now-viral TikTok is calling out CVS for appearing to throw away products like blankets and socks the day after Christmas.
Anna Sacks, who has shared footage of intact goods in store trash since at least 2020 on TikTok, posted the video Dec. 28. The video, recorded on Dec. 26, shows massive heaps of trash outside a CVS location in New York City. Inside, Sacks found blankets, dog beds, toys, plants, Christmas decor and some damaged goods.
Sacks tells TODAY.com that she started posting videos like the one outside CVS to urge retailers to “donate, don’t dump.”
“Instead of destroying or discarding these useful items, set it aside for them to be donated,” she said. “This is the not the first instance of going through CVS’ trash and finding a lot of things.”
Matt Blanchette, a spokesperson for CVS, said the company is “unable to verify the veracity of the video,” in a statement to NBC News.
“Our product disposal guidelines and procedures comply with applicable state and federal regulations, and they are consistent with that of the retail industry,” Blanchette said.
According to the statement, in 2021, 50% of CVS’ waste was diverted for recycling or reuse, and the company donated $140 million in product to charities like Feeding America.
“We also have initiatives in place to reduce the amount of waste generated at our retail stores and other facilities,” the statement continued. “Our approach optimizes the liquidation, donation and recycling of unsalable products and works to reduce the number of these products that come into our stores.”
Sacks agrees that CVS is “consistent with the retail industry.”
“Most big box stores do this, but that doesn’t make it OK,” she says.
Later in the video, in addition to going through the trash outside of the store, Sacks also laid out some of the products on the pavement, which people started to grab. She says people started claiming some of the items “right away.”
“While we were going through still, people were coming up and taking things,” she says.
Sacks adds that she claimed some food and hygiene products for herself.
The video has since been viewed more than 300,000 times and received more than 60,000 likes. But it’s far from her most viral video. A 2020 video allegedly showing trash outside of a CVS containing unopened food items and more received 3 million views.
What makes her Dec. 26 video “a little different” compared to past holiday waste videos, Sacks says, is that this was taken one day after Christmas.
“So there wasn’t even that period of discounting like they typically do,” she says.
Sacks, known as @thetrashwalker on social media platforms, started going through corporate trash in 2017 and previously told TODAY.com that CVS is her main focus, citing a Change.org petition she created that as of publication has more than 400,000 signatures.
“I genuinely enjoy going through trash and educating people and trying to open people’s eyes to the amount of waste we create,” Sacks told TODAY in 2019.
Now, more than four years later, Sacks wonders when the “turning point” will be.
“At what point will corporations have to stop over-producing and destroying like they currently are doing?” she asks.
This article was originally published on TODAY.com