BUSINESS NEWS
Walmart child car safety seat trade-in event gave out $30 gift cards
Kelly Tyko
USA TODAY
Published 8:53 AM EDT Sep 23, 2019
UPDATE: Walmart announced the recycling program will end earlier than originally announced on Sept. 21. See the latest story.
For National Baby Safety Month, Walmart is giving parents an incentive to turn in or trade in car seats – and keep those seats out of landfills.
Walmart kicked off its first car seat recycling event at nearly 4,000 stores. Customers who trade in a used car seat get a $30 gift card that “can be used on any item in stores or on Walmart.com,” the company told USA TODAY in a statement.
Melody Richards, Walmart Baby vice president, said in a statement, that safety is a top priority for the retailer’s baby department.
“We wanted to use our size and scale to create an event that offered unprecedented access to trade in an outgrown car seat for a gift card – perfect for using on your baby’s next car seat,” Richards said.
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Waste management company TerraCycle will recycle the seats and keep their components from winding up in landfills. TerraCycle CEO and founder Tom Szaky said the company’s collaboration with Walmart will “divert the plastic equivalent of approximately 35 million water bottles from landfills.”
Walmart competitor Target, which conducted its own car seat trade-in event that ended Sept. 13, has recycled half a million car seats and more than 11.9 million pounds of materials in the program’s three years.
About Walmart’s car seat trade-in event
Walmart’s event is from Sept. 16-21 and all car seat brands will be accepted. All car seats collected will be recycled through TerraCycle.
Bring your car seat to the Customer Service counter during the recycling events at participating Walmart stores, which can be found on the store’s website. On Walmart.com, find the closest location by searching by ZIP code.
In exchange, get a $30 Walmart gift card to use in-store or online. The card is subject to Walmart gift card’s terms and conditions. In exchange, get a $30 Walmart gift card that “you can use in-store or online to buy items for your baby.”
There’s a limit of two trade-ins per household and booster seats are not eligible for trade in.
Learn more and find locations at www.walmart.com/AboutBestOfBabyMonth.
Follow USA TODAY reporter Kelly Tyko on Twitter: @KellyTyko