I don’t know what W-M in N.Y. does with unsold and unwanted items but around here they are donated to charity.
Pity the ‘Charity’ that gets damaged and ‘unwanted’/unsold not-so-goods from Wal-Mart. Think appropriate ‘disposal’ is fair and perhaps, more charitable, in the end.
When W-M enters into an agreement to purchase products, they normally include the idea of the company buying back unsold goods. It could be the selling companies decided it was cheaper to have W-M destroy the product rather than pay to have them shipped back and restock the products.