AMAZON has responded after an investigation suggested the online retailer is "destroying" unsold goods and sending them to landfill.
The online retailer, which has 'Fulfilment Centres' in Durham and Darlington, was reportedly found to have sorted items into boxes marked "destroy."
An ex-worker at its Dunfermline warehouse had told ITV News that the site had a target of destroying 130,000 items per week as footage was released.
Read more: I did a shift working with Amazon's robots at its site in Durham
Amazon has since denied it is sending unsold goods to landfill, while saying it remains its priority to resell, donate or recycle such products.
The investigation had claimed to find items, including smart TVs, laptops, drones, hairdryers and thousands of sealed face masks, sorted into "destroy" boxes.
The ex-worker, who claimed this had taken place at the Fulfilment Centre in Scotland, said half of items earmarked for destruction had been unopened.
Meanwhile the investigation went on to claim items such as Dyson fans, MacBooks and iPads faced being sent to landfill.
The worker, who wishes to remain anonymous, said: “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 masks still in their wrappers.
“Overall, 50 per cent of all items are unopened and still in their shrink wrap. The other half are returns and in good condition.”
The investigation also claimed to have found a leaked document showing more than 124,000 items were marked “destroy” one week in April – compared to just 28,000 items in the same period labelled “donate”.
However, an Amazon spokesman said that while the investigation followed lorries to a landfill site, no items are disposed of in that way.
A statement from Amazon said: “We are working towards a goal of zero product disposal and our priority is to resell, donate to charitable organisations or recycle any unsold products.
“No items are sent to landfill in the UK. As a last resort, we will send items to energy recovery, but we’re working hard to drive the number of times this happens down to zero.
“We are committed to reducing our environmental footprint and building a circular economy programme with the aim of reducing returns, reusing and reselling products, and reducing disposals.”
Energy recovery is when recyclable materials are stripped from products before the rest is reconverted into energy and put through the national grid.
But the spokesman maintained this was a last resort for the company – and also denied it was cheaper to dispose of the items instead of returning them to the domestic sellers.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel