Podcast Episode · Sustainability In Your Ear · 11/17/2025 · 35m

LiquiDonate makes it easy for nonprofits to get free items from businesses and retailers. We've helped businesses donate over nine million items to nonprofits.

YouTube video by Environmental Social Justice

LiquiDonate's 2026 Returns Fraud Report reveals alarming trends in e-commerce returns fraud, providing insights and solutions for retailers to combat it.

LiquiDonate is a logistics technology platform that helps retailers and brands divert unsellable returns and excess inventory from landfills by automatically

https://elkcreeknotes.beehiiv.com/ to receive transcripts by email. https://elkcreeknotes.beehiiv.com/p/sustainability-in-your-ear-transcript-wieden-kennedy-director-of-sustainability-luke-purdy?utm_source=elkcreeknotes.beehiiv.com&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=otters-passing-through-and-a-sustainability-in-your-ear-transcript-luke-purdy-wieden-kennedy-s-director-of-sustainability-on-advertising-s-power-to-change&_bhlid=6515280c06f366e6dbc990be9183178242b88789. What if the solution to the retail industry's $890 billion returns crisis wasn't better logistics, but better logic? Disney Petit, founder and CEO of https://liquidonate.com, is proving that the most sustainable return skips the trip back to a warehouse and goes directly to a community in need. Americans returned nearly 17% of all retail purchases last year, generating 2.6 million tons of landfill waste and 16 million tons of CO2 emissions. Each return costs retailers between $25 and $35 to process, yet 52% of consumers admit to participating in return fraud at least once. Petit witnessed this broken system firsthand as employee number 15 at Postmates, where she built the customer service team and created Civic Labs, the company's social responsibility arm. Her food security product Bento, which allowed people without smartphones to access free food via text message, won https://time.com/collection/best-inventions-2021/6113113/bento-app/. Now Liquidonate has earned recognition as one of https://time.com/collections/best-inventions-2025/7318526/liquidonate/. Liquidonate integrates directly with retailers' existing warehouse and return management systems. When a product comes back and can't be resold—open box, slightly damaged, or simply unwanted—the platform automatically matches it with a local nonprofit or school that needs it. "It's the same reverse logistics workflow they already use," Petit explains. "It's just redirected toward community good instead of going to the landfill." The platform handles everything: shipping labels, pickup coordination, and tax documentation so retailers can write off donations. Retailers recover logistics costs through tax benefits while communities receive quality products, and millions of pounds of goods stay out of landfills. To date, retailers using Liquidonate have diverted over 12 million items from landfills, working with more than 4,000 nonprofits across the country. Liquidonate also tackles return fraud by eliminating "keep it" returns, when customers claim they want to return something but are told to keep the item and still receive a refund. "One hundred percent of the time we're producing a shipping label for a nonprofit who wants that product," Petit says. "We completely eliminate that keep-it return option, so we eliminate the returns fraud option." With $900 billion worth of inventory potentially available for redirection, Petit approaches the business through the lens of environmental justice, building a for-profit company designed to prove that doing good and doing well aren't mutually exclusive—they're interdependent. Nonprofits and schools can sign up for free at https://liquidonate.com. Retailers interested in partnering can reach out to mailto:partners@liquidonate.com. - Subscribe to Sustainability In Your Ear on https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/earth911-com-sustainability-in-your-ear/id1384301001?mt=2 - Follow Sustainability In Your Ear on https://www.spreaker.com/user/earth911, https://www.iheart.com/podcast/966-Earth911com-Sustain-29715785/, or https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOEAu3yE_OGPAQR9o8o9XeA/

Aisya Aziz's portrait was generated by ChatGPT from a provided image. LiquiDonate CTO Aisya Aziz is turning the mess of returns and excess inventory into a disciplined, donation‑first supply chain, proving that unsellable doesn’t have to mean unusable. Recognized by TIME as a 2025 Best Invention, her API‑first architecture, item‑level data model, and human‑centered leadership are helping major retailers route millions of products to thousands of nonprofits, including publishing defensible impact metrics instead of squishy ESG math. Key takeaways API‑first, donation‑first platform that plugs into existing retail and logistics stacks.

LiquiDonate's Disney Petit shares how to get more value out of returns and why sustainability can actually create cost savings.

One-out-of-three consumers confessed to committing at least one form of return-related racket, per the retail-tech firm’s special report findings.

Petit discusses how LiquiDonate is helping retailers turn excess inventory and unsellable goods into opportunities for community impact and operational efficiency.

Petit discusses how LiquiDonate is helping retailers turn excess inventory and unsellable goods into opportunities for community impact and operational efficiency.

Listen to this Enterprise Apps Unpacked podcast with LiquiDonate CTO Aisya Aziz on how the reverse logistics platform diverts returned products to nonprofits.

LiquiDonate's Disney Petit shares how to get more value out of returns and why sustainability can actually create cost savings.

One-out-of-three consumers confessed to committing at least one form of return-related racket, per the retail-tech firm’s special report findings.

Petit discusses how LiquiDonate is helping retailers turn excess inventory into opportunities for community impact and operational efficiency.

LiquiDonate's revamped Shopify app, 'ReturnsDirect,' empowers small businesses with essential tools for managing holiday returns sustainably.

LiquiDonate, a pioneering retail-tech firm, has been named to TIME's 2025 Best Inventions list for its innovative sustainable inventory solutions that benefit communities.

Petit discusses how LiquiDonate is helping retailers turn excess inventory and unsellable goods into opportunities for community impact and operational efficiency.

Bay Area business news: Trump threatens China tariffs, AstraZeneca may cut drug prices, Newsom signs housing bill, Levi's stock drops despite profit rise and S.F.'s LiquiDonate named to TIME's 2025 Best Inventions list.

Roughly 80% of retail returns end up in landfill. Disney Petit decided to do something about that.