The news: Best Buy said this week that all 29 of its US supply chain facilities hold TRUE zero-waste certification. The standard is run by Green Business Certification Inc., the group behind the LEED building ratings. To qualify, a building has to send less than 10% of its waste to landfill, measured over 12 months.
The first site, a returns center in Chino, California, was certified in 2021. The release calls the network-wide finish “its 2021 goal.”
Best Buy’s own documents give that goal a date the release leaves out. A company post in late 2024 and its 2025 responsibility report both said every facility would be certified by 2025.
The same report put the company-wide diversion rate at 69%, against a separate goal of 85% by 2025. It does not split stores from warehouses. But with 20 of the 29 warehouses certified above 90% that year, the rest of the company, stores included, averaged below 69%.
What changed: In 2021, Best Buy had one certified building. Chino got there by measuring its waste streams first, using data from Rubicon, a waste-tracking software company, and then forming a volunteer “green team” to run the changes. That year, the site diverted more than 99.67% of its solid waste, per the 2021 announcement.
The other 28 buildings followed the same steps, and every facility now has a green team. “Recycling equipment in our stores and supply chain facilities just makes sense for the business and the environment,” Tim Dunn, Best Buy's head of environmental sustainability, told SupplyChainBrain in 2024.
The physical changes at each site:
Color-coded bins for trash, recycling and compost
Reusable pallets and totes in place of single-use ones
29 new cardboard balers added in FY25, on top of the balers every store already has
Densifiers that crush foam packaging into cubes, which take up less truck space and ship to partners who turn them into new packaging, building materials and picture frames
Cardboard and plastic film make up the largest share of what the network diverts, Best Buy said. It has not put a dollar figure on the program, either in savings on hauling or in revenue from baled material.
By the numbers: One facility was certified in 2021, 20 by late 2024 and all 29 now. The last nine took roughly 20 months.
“By 2025” was the deadline in the 2024 post announcing the 20th site. The 2025 report repeated it and said the remaining nine would be certified in fiscal 2026, which ended in January.
The company-wide US diversion rate was 69% in FY25, up from 67% the year before, against the 85% goal for 2025. Best Buy changed its counting method in FY24 to match the EPA's, so earlier years do not compare.
Best Buy has not said which facility was last, or what level of TRUE certification each site holds. The standard has four tiers, and the release names none.
The pattern: Best Buy, Walmart and REI all set 2025 deadlines for operational waste in the same goal-setting cycle. REI met its date. Walmart and Best Buy did not.
Walmart aimed to divert 90% of its operational waste by 2025 and reached 84%, per its latest progress report. It has not set a new waste goal, Trellis reported last month.
REI kept 90% of its waste out of landfills and incinerators in 2024, a year early, across its 190-plus stores, distribution centers and warehouses. Three of its distribution centers are TRUE-certified.
Target is working to a 2030 date for zero waste to landfill in its US operations, according to its sustainability page. It diverted 87% of operational waste in FY24 and has one TRUE-certified site, a flow center in Hawaii certified in 2022.
All three count stores and warehouses together. Best Buy’s 29-building claim covers only its supply chain, so its comparable number is the 69%.
The counter: REI got to 90% with its stores counted. Its rate rose from 78% in 2020 to 86% in 2023 and 90% in 2024, and the 2024 figure was independently audited, per Trellis.
REI is also a much smaller company, with $3.76 billion in 2024 sales against Best Buy’s $41.7 billion.
Even REI stops short of calling itself zero waste. “Being literally zero waste, i.e. 100% diversion from landfill, is an aspiration,” Andrew Dempsey, REI's director of climate, told Trellis. “We have no timeframe on this.”
What’s next: Best Buy has not published its fiscal 2026 responsibility report; the 2025 edition came out in July. The fiscal 2026 report will carry the first company-wide diversion rate since the 85% goal came due.
Responsibility for the facilities also moved in July: Duane Scarboro became chief fulfillment and operations officer, with sourcing, supply chain, fulfillment and delivery under him. The appointment is part of a CEO transition, with Jason Bonfig taking over when Corie Barry leaves at the end of October.
Mark Irvin, the chief supply chain officer quoted on the zero-waste goal in the 2025 report, is not listed among the executive officers in the company’s latest annual report.
Best Buy reports second-quarter results next week.
Dig deeper:
How to achieve TRUE Zero Waste certification, GBCI [Explainer]: the seven minimum requirements, the 81-point scale that sets the four tiers, the on-site assessor visit with employee interviews, and a timeline of about nine weeks, with diversion data due every year after.
