An Amazon warehouse destroys millions of items a year, some of which are brand new, the report says

Published:

22 June 2021 04:33 GMT

“There is no logic or reason for destruction: Tyson dryers, Hoover vacuums, some MacBooks and iPods,” a former employee revealed.

An Amazon warehouse in Scotland (UK) destroys millions of unsold items each year ITV. As part of its investigation, the British media recorded videos inside the company’s warehouse on Dunfermline, showing laptops, televisions, jewelry, headphones, books and masks.

An anonymous former Amazon employee told ITV that 130,000 items a week should be cut off for warehouse workers. This was confirmed by an internal reference seen by the media, which a week in April, 124,000 items were marked “clear”. In the same week, only 28,000 products were marked with the word “donation”.

“There is no logic or reason for the destruction: Tyson dryers, Hoover vacuum cleaners, some MacBooks and iPods. The next day, 20,000 anticoagulant face masks are still in their packaging,” the former employee said. Because the destruction was still in its respective folds, the other half was there Items returned in good condition.

If the weekly average was 130,000 items, it would translate to more than six million products marked for destruction each year. In 2019, secret reporters in France Revealed Amazon has destroyed more than three million products a year.

“Goal of zero waste”

During the investigation, ITV also recorded boxes of products marked “destroyed” loaded on trucks and transferred to recycling centers, as well as a landscape.

For its part, an e-commerce spokesman told the sales outlet that Amazon was operating without throwing goods and that nothing had been shipped to a single land in the UK. The spokesman added that sometimes the waste is sent to burning facilities as fuel for power generation, which is practically more environmentally friendly than landfills or landfills.

“We are working towards the goal of zero product waste, our priority is resale, donating to charities or recycling any unsold item,” a spokesman told ITV.