For about a year, I’ve walked up and down the streets of New York City in the evenings to save perfectly good food and other items from CVS’s trash, which I then gift to friends, family, and people in need.

I find it ridiculous - and frankly disrespectful - to see how much CVS wastes when millions of people, including CVS’s own employees, struggle to put food on the table.

CVS, as a policy, throws out excess, slightly damaged, or about-to-expire merchandise. In CVS's trash in New York I've found unopened toothpaste, bars of soap, tissues, and shelf-stable food like Oreos and oatmeal (which safely can be eaten months after the best by date*). All of this should have been donated.

Over the course of several months I've emailed CVS's CEO Larry Merlo about this multiple times, and as direct result have spoken to regional management about this multiple times. They've promised to donate more, but nothing has changed. I'm hoping this petition can pressure CVS to make donation their default.

Tell CVS to #donatedontdump

Donate to a local shelter, food pantry, or church. CVS has a national partnership with Feeding America, but still a lot of food and usable merchandise is thrown out. CVS should not only allow regional managers to form partnerships with local charities, but should reward them for doing so (make it part of their performance appraisal, for example).

If donation is not a possibility, allow employees to take home food and other usable items that would otherwise be thrown out. Employees, most of whom make minimum wage, are forbidden from taking home or donating excess merchandise to those in need, and might be fired for doing so. CVS should allow employees to take home items that would otherwise be thrown out.

Thank you for your help! I hope you'll sign and share this petition.

-Anna

*Legally, only baby formula needs to have a best by date. Best by dates on all other products are voluntarily put there by manufacturers and often only indicate product quality, not product safety. If anyone were to get sick from donated food, CVS would be protected from legal liability under the Good Samaritan Food Donation Act. In addition, there have been no recorded lawsuits related to food donation.