Amazon stock gets trashed - 12th July 2021

Millions of pounds worth of unsold stock gets disposed of annually by the multinational e-commerce giant Amazon.

In a report by the UK’s ITV News, secret footage gathered from inside Amazon's Dunfermline warehouse exposed scenes of a culture of excessive disposal. Containers labelled "destroy" brimmed with new smart TVs, laptops, drones, hairdryers, top of the range headphones, computer drives and books, alongside thousands of sealed face masks.

Rather than unsold and returned products being redistributed to charities or those in need, they are hauled away by lorries and disposed of at landfill sites and recycling centres.

A whistleblower and former employee weighed in on the company's questionable ethical and environmental practices. He confided anonymously that the weekly goal was to rid the warehouse of 130,000 items, reflecting, "I used to gasp. There's no rhyme or reason to what gets destroyed: Dyson fans, Hoovers, the occasional MacBook and iPad; the other day, 20,000 Covid [face] masks still in their wrappers.”

Amazon's business processes appear to be largely at fault since Amazon presents their warehouses as an attractive option for vendors to outsource the housing of their products and increase their sales. However, with the passage of time, storage becomes costly and as a result, disposal of unsold goods, especially those from overseas, becomes the most cost effective option.

Political campaigner for Greenpeace Sam Chetan-Welsh echoed the public's sentiments, saying, “It's an unimaginable amount of unnecessary waste, and just shocking to see a multi-billion pound company getting rid of stock in this way. Stuff that’s not even single use but not being used at all, straight off the production line and into the bin."

The environmentalist went on to claim that as long as Amazon perpetuates business practices dependent on such a disposal culture, the current situation will only be exacerbated. He implored the government to intervene and introduce legislation with immediate effect.

Currently, company policies like these are within the law, and Amazon shows no sign of taking independent action to curb such excessive waste.