One plant-loving poster was stunned when their friend brought them a pile of potted orchids from their job at Home Depot — flowers that had been destined to be thrown away.
What’s happening?
The original poster shared a flurry of photos in r/orchids. “My friend who works at Home Depot saved these from the trash for me! She kept 30 for herself lol!” they said.
Photo Credit: Reddit
Photo Credit: Reddit
The photos show at least seven plants in full bloom and looking beautiful, in a variety of patterns. At first glance, they appear healthy, although inspection revealed why they were being thrown away.
“After repotting them all today, I noticed they all had some kind of bug,” said the original poster in a comment. “And stem rot, but it’s ok! I will nurse them back to reboots. Whenever that happens.”
Why is a store throwing away flowers important?
A main reason Home Depot can throw away products is that it marks up the prices on everything that remains. Each item that does sell covers the cost of the many thrown away.
If the company approached things differently — taking more care to only stock what will sell and avoiding damage such as outbreaks of disease among its plants — then less manufacturing and shipping would be needed, the overhead costs would be lower, and those savings could be passed to consumers.
Plus, it would be better for the environment because of fewer wasted resources and fewer outbreaks of bugs and fungus.
Is Home Depot doing anything about this?
While Home Depot does have programs to reduce other types of waste such as plastic, there is no public company-wide plan for reducing organic waste such as plants. However, individual locations can still participate in programs like composting to turn the discarded plants into useful fertilizer. It’s not clear whether this applies to diseased plants.
What can I do about discarded plants?
Many commenters recommended approaching local stores for free or discounted plants from among the items they were planning to throw away.
“So what you’re saying is we all need to go check the dumpster at our local Home Depots,” said one commenter.
“I would say your best bet is actually Walmart and asking for a heavy markdown (perhaps the entire tray of very sad orchids for $20), but maybe Home Depot will drop prices too! Especially if it’s just not selling,” commented the original poster.
Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don’t miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Comments are closed.