When I lived in NY, the same thing happened at Woolworth. I asked if they would donate the old patterns to our school, we had a sewing program. The manager said no. I asked him why not, the other local fabric shops did it. He said he wasn't allowed to. I told him that wasn't true, all he did was give the pattern covers to get credit! We argued for about 15 minutes, then I told him, "fine then I will wait outside by the dumpster and take the patterns". LOL
He was not amused, but didn't back down either. So, I told my friend who worked there, to call when he threw them out and I'd be right there to get them. So, instead of throwing them away, he stored them in the storage room. LOL