# Liquidonate CEO Disney Petit On Solving The Retail Returns Crisis

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/sustainability-in-your-ear-838586/liquidonate-ceo-disney-petit-on-solving-the-retail-returns-crisis
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/sustainability-in-your-ear-838586/liquidonate-ceo-disney-petit-on-solving-the-retail-returns-crisis.md
Podcast: [Sustainability In Your Ear](https://stenobird.com/podcast/sustainability-in-your-ear-838586)
Published: 2025-11-17T11:50:07+00:00
Episode link: https://earth911.com/podcast/sustainability-in-your-ear-liquidonate-ceo-disney-petit-on-solving-the-retail-returns-crisis/
Audio file: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/68575268/siye_interview_liquidonate_ceo_disney_petit_on_solving_the_retail_returns_crisis.mp3
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/sustainability-in-your-ear-838586/episodes/liquidonate-ceo-disney-petit-on-solving-the-retail-returns-crisis
Duration seconds: 2080

## Resource

Subscribe to receive transcripts by email. Read along with this episode . 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 Liquidonate , 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 Time Magazine's 2021 Invention of the Year Award . Now Liquidonate has earned recognition as one of Time's Best Inventions of 2025 . 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. T…

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/sustainability-in-your-ear-838586/episodes/liquidonate-ceo-disney-petit-on-solving-the-retail-returns-crisis/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/sustainability-in-your-ear-838586/liquidonate-ceo-disney-petit-on-solving-the-retail-returns-crisis.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed.

## Transcript

Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.