Waste Management

Tactics and initiatives that support our efforts to reduce, reuse, and recycle throughout our operations include:

In Our Stores:

• Recycling programs for common items like cardboard, plastic, paper, aluminum, and glass have been introduced across all geographies.
• Reducing paper waste by making the majority of our store reports, training materials, and policies available electronically.
• Piloting programs to address the challenges of recycling polystyrene (Styrofoam) packaging waste in each of our major geographies.
• HomeGoods and Homesense stores in the U.S. are working to quantify our waste volumes from polystyrene (Styrofoam) and explore ways to recycle it, which we believe may ultimately reduce compactor pick-ups, decreasing hauling fees, and reduce our carbon footprint.
• In Canada, our store operations teams are collecting polystyrene (Styrofoam) from select stores for vendors who use it as a raw material to manufacture certain products, such as picture frames.
• In the U.K., polystyrene (Styrofoam) is transported from select stores and brought to our processing centers where it is then sent to be compressed into bricks that are used for housing insulation.

In Our Distribution and Service Centers:

• Globally, our distribution and processing centers include designs to simplify the reuse and recycling of the corrugated cardboard we receive from our vendors. In addition to cardboard, some of our distribution centers have systems in place to recycle other materials, such as scrap metal, pallets, paper, glass, plastic, aluminum, and food waste.
• Millions of corrugate packaging units and boxes that come through our logistics network each year are backhauled to our Asset Recovery and Recycling Centers (ARRCs) in the U.S., U.K., and Germany and recycled or reused where possible.
• In the U.S., in fiscal 2021, T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, and HomeGoods continued programs to reuse cardboard boxes throughout the network, and over 6.3 million reusable units of packaging were sent back from our stores through our ARRC network to be returned to distribution centers for reuse, saving nearly $5.9 million.
• In our two distribution centers in Ontario, Canada, we encourage waste reduction and recycling through our procurement policy and Associate education efforts. In fiscal 2021, these efforts achieved a 93% diversion from landfill rate.
• In our European processing centers, we divert approximately 100% of waste from landfills and recycle plastic, wooden pallets, and cardboard that has been backhauled from our stores.

In Our Home Offices:

• Reducing paper by offering our U.S. Associates the option to sign up for the paperless paycheck program, which has saved over 54,000 trees since the program’s rollout in 2019.
• In many of our offices, we recycle close to 100% of white paper from our waste stream. Some of our offices have additional recycling programs to manage cans, bottles, batteries, plastic wrap, plastic items, corrugated cardboard, and printed materials.
• In our global headquarters in Framingham and Marlborough, Massachusetts, as well as our Canadian corporate offices, we have removed waste bins from nearly all Associates’ workspaces and installed centrally located tri-sorter waste and recycling bins. Additionally, in our global headquarters in the U.S., the cafeteria food serve-ware are either 100% compostable or are fully recyclable, and we have composting programs in place. In Europe, we have Associate waste and recycling bins, as well as use compostable utensils, recycled paper napkins, and cardboard food containers.

In Our Asset Recovery and Recycling Centers (ARRCs)

In the U.S., our 21 ARRCs are located within our service centers and have historically served as a central destination for regional recyclable or reusable store material. Select stores send used corrugated cardboard, plastic, excess hangers, store fixtures, display cases, unused boxes, and other supplies to their local ARRC, where the items are processed for reuse in other stores or recycled. In fiscal 2021, due to the impact of COVID-19, the ARRCs focused their efforts around Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) delivery to stores and floor fixture storage to help create additional space in our stores.

Over the years, the flexibility of the ARRC organization has enabled us to test new programs as we strive to increase the types of materials that can be included in our recycling stream. For example, as our global waste stakeholders have identified polystyrene (Styrofoam) as a key area of focus, in the past we have leveraged the ARRC to pilot strategies to improve our management and recycling of polystyrene packaging material. Thanks to this initiative and many others, we estimate the ARRCs have helped divert more than 285,000 metric tons of waste from landfills since fiscal 2017.

In Europe, the ARRC operates as a recycling center for equipment that is not currently required in stores and fulfills store equipment needs. In fiscal 2021, to accommodate changes required due to the pandemic, the ARRC stored additional store fixtures and supported processing centers to accommodate their need for space and storage.

We have regional efforts in place to identify opportunities to remove single-use plastics from our operations and are working with our suppliers to reduce single-use packaging.

• In the U.S., we have a team of subject matter experts who are working to improve the sustainability of the packaging used for certain products we may help design or develop to be manufactured just for us, including where feasible, reducing packaging or using packaging that can be more easily recycled by consumers.
• In our U.S. Distribution Centers, we calculated the lifecycle impacts of select internal-packaging and fragile-packing materials used by our T.J. Maxx and Marshalls distribution centers, as well as the impact of using plastic totes versus cardboard boxes. We analyzed the impact of removing plastic bags from our packaging of liquid products during shipping from distribution centers to stores. The solution that we implemented utilizes a more easily recycled material and corrugated box inserts and has resulted in an estimated 12 million fewer plastic bags being used across our distribution network each year.
• In Canada, we established a single-use plastics committee in fiscal 2021 comprised of representatives across several functional areas who are helping to drive our strategy around this topic. The group is reviewing where single-use plastics are used in our Canadian business and operations, and exploring and proposing alternatives where possible.
• In Europe, we have a strategy to remove single-use plastics from our offices, processing centers, and stores. In our e-commerce operations, we have replaced bubble wrap packaging used for our shipments with a recyclable paper alternative, and we have removed about one million plastic button bags from our products. We also removed single-use plastic bottles from our European stores and replaced them with refreshments in containers made from glass or other recyclable materials. Learn more about additional efforts below.

Single-use plastic merchandise carry out bags

• TJX has joined Closed Loop Partners’ Consortium to Reinvent the Retail Bag, as the Apparel and Home Goods Sector Lead Partner.
• In Europe, all single-use plastics bags were removed from stores in fiscal 2021. Customers can purchase reusable bags made from 90% recycled plastic and enhanced to be more durable under our “Bags for Life” program, and a portion of the proceeds goes to one of our charity partners.

Product Packaging

• By fiscal 2025, we are working to eliminate PVC from the packaging of certain top-of-bed products that are designed by our own fashion and style experts or manufactured just for us.

We recognize the significant environmental concerns created by textile waste, and we are exploring how we can contribute to scalable solutions that support a more circular economy. For example, in certain parts of Canada, U.K., and Ireland, we have programs in place that support the reuse of clothing, accessories, shoes, homeware, and more.

In Canada, we partner with Brands for Canada at our distribution centers to provide second life for product by donating unsold clothing, personal care, and household items to people in need through trusted social service agencies and schools.

In the U.K. and Ireland, T.K. Maxx Associates and customers recycle clothes, accessories, and homeware in-store through our “Give up Clothes for Good” initiative. This initiative allows people to donate their clothing and accessories year-round in our stores. Since the beginning of the partnership, T.K. Maxx Associates and customers have donated over 1.7 million bags of goods. This amounts to 8,800 metric tons of pre-loved items diverted from landfill or more than 198,000 metric tons of carbon emissions saved.² The initiative not only benefits the environment, but has also raised millions of pounds for Cancer Research U.K. for Children and Young People and Enable Ireland. Learn more about our efforts in the Communities section of this website.

Although our business operations are not water intensive, we believe reducing water usage is consistent with both our commitment to environmental sustainability and our low-cost operating philosophy. To that end, we have continued our efforts to monitor our water usage and identify opportunities to improve water efficiency. For instance, our Energy Management groups in the U.S. and U.K. collect water usage data across our facilities to identify opportunities for improvement and we use time-sensor technologies to control faucets in many of our restrooms.

Additionally, our TJX Vendor Code of Conduct strongly encourages our merchandise vendors to conserve and protect resources, such as water and energy, and also take into consideration environmental issues that may impact their local communities. Environmental concerns are incorporated into our merchandise vendor social compliance training materials as well, introducing high-level concepts of environmental sustainability, like water conservation. Our training includes specific cost-saving, water-conservation recommendations for our suppliers that they may consider implementing at their production facilities. We plan to continue including similar relevant water facts during future training sessions.