It's somewhat similar in books IIRC, if the books don't sell you send back covers of the books and get reimbursed? (based on info from 20 years ago, pretty static industry so probably still the same)
on edit: of course book stores don't compete with publishers.
Not all industries have buybacks, and many producers won't take on contracts that involve them.
(Fun Fact for anyone not familiar with this practice: in publishing the covers were shipped back as the proof because whole books are heavy/costly to ship and take up a lot of space/costly to warehouse so the retailer with them on hand would just have the rest of the book pulped).
I used to love browsing through books at the local flea market that were $0.25, had the cover ripped off, and of course the notice “don’t buy this book if the cover is ripped off!”
Enjoyed a lot of cheap sci-fi and fantasy that way.
I would expect it's pretty uncommon sure, I mean how would you do buybacks of canned goods. It works because of the many historical features of publishing, and the physical realities of books (removing cover to send back) and doesn't seem like it could work in most industries.
Peel off the label and send that back. As for destruction, there's the easy option of making the expiration untradable (marker or alcohol) so anyone opening it doesn't know what's inside or if it's good, and the more time consuming option of puncturing it (this option would work on most food items). Working at a grocery store, if the outer packaging of an item is damaged by a tear or even a dent, nobody will buy it unless it's the only one left and they're desperate, even if the contents are in a stronger inside container (microwave meals, cereal, multipacks, etc). I was asked to replace an item for someone once because the package coloring was off. Cosmetically damaged product sits on the shelf until it gets scanned out, and customers only touch it to move it so they can get the item behind.
Most products in stores today that aren't sold in bulk have a bar code on the packaging, which can be sent back as symbolic proof the item was "destroyed" (about as meaningful as the; for smaller objects, send back the entire front of the package.
I'm not saying this is a good idea. (I think this is a terrible idea, and that we create too much waste already) I'm just saying it's entirely possible.
It is. Fun fact: when Harry Potter 7 was published in the United Kingdom, the publisher didn't allow this, so bookstores had to purchased the stocks from the publisher. This wasn't that bad because most people preordered it, but independendt bookshop had to took the risks to order a few extra copies.
on edit: of course book stores don't compete with publishers.