Costco is to dump nearly one million jars of peanut butter in a landfill in New Mexico that were left after a peanut-processing plant went bankrupt, The Guardian reported.
The wholesale retailer is dumping the peanut butter, valued at $2.6 million, in an attempt to make sale of the processing plant's leftovers go faster. The processing plant, Sunland Inc., was linked to a salmonella outbreak across 20 states in 2012.
The 950,000 peanut butter jars, about 25 tons worth, will be transported to the Curry County landfill in Clovis. The load "will go in with our regular waste and covered with dirt," public works director Clint Bunch told The Guardian. The 58-truck $60,000 delivery is expected to be completed by Friday.
The peanut butter has been sitting in a warehouse since Sunland filed for bankruptcy in 2012. Costco agreed to purchase the peanut butter as part of a court order that allowed a bankruptcy trustee to sell Sunland's products.
According to the bankruptcy trustee, Clarke Coll, "all parties agreed there's nothing wrong with the peanut butter from a health and safety issue," The Guardian reported.
But Costco later dismissed the product as "not merchantable" after receiving eight loads. The retailer said it was due to leaky peanut oil.
Costco was asked to donate the peanut butter to food banks or sell it to providers of prison food. Costco denied their requests, saying "it would not agree to any disposition...other than destruction," according to The Guardian.
Sonya Warwick, a spokeswoman for New Mexico's largest food bank, told the newspaper that recovering food from being wasted "allows us to provide a more well-rounded and balanced meal to New Mexicans experiencing hunger."
Though Warwick did not comment on the Costco situation, she said that 74 percent of what Roadrunner Food Bank handed out in New Mexico in 2013 was rescued food.
Costco did not return The Guardian's request for comment.
