It's just the wasteful American life in retail. A product of easy success and plenty of resources so much so that we are very wasteful. It's sad, but these examples are happening by the truckload in every city in America every week. Restaurants, shopping malls, grocery stores, retail outlets, etc. Defects, returns, etc. often go right into the trash compactor or dumpster. A cow was raised in crummy situations, slaughter, cut into pieces, wrapped, and then thrown into a dumpster. It also happens at construction sites. A tree was cut down, chopped into boards, transported several times to the job site, and then thrown in a dumpster. The amount of good lumber and building materials thrown in the dumpster is sickening. I have, many times, "dumpster dove" for nice pieces of brand new dimensional lumber, boxes of hardwood flooring, sections of PVC piping, etc. The waste is sickening.
I do NOT agree with the wastefulness. I understand the policy to destroy it, I think the policy to destroy it deters customers or employees from poking a hole in a bottle, and then asking for it for free. They might also get a 1 for 1 credit if they document it. But if they sell a $30 bottle for $5, they might just lose $25 on the transaction, plus the employee's time in dealing with transferring the product to a new bottle of oil, etc. I don't agree with it and there is a better way. At minimum this should be donated.
Many many years ago I worked in security at a major grocery and dry goods retailer (similar to Walmart in concept). One of our duties was to observe the disposal of this stuff. I frequently watched grocery carts full of returned food, new clothing with tags, pallets of new food pulled from the floors for minor packing defects, food 1 day past expiration, prime meats, dairy, frozen foods, you name it go right into the trash compactor.
Thankfully, in the decades since, MOST environmentally or community based businesses will repurpose or donate what they can. I've volunteered at food banks and truckloads of this stuff that used to go into the garbage is now donated to clothing and food giveaways in the community. Just today, I saw several pickup trucks getting some from the local grocery store - meats, fresh fruits and veggies, etc. near expiration.