Amazon destroys new goods and returns

Amazon apparently continues to dispose of new goods and returns – even after a change in the law. That report that ZDF-Magazine frontal as well Business Insider.

Already in 2018 it had ZDF-Magazine Frontal revealed that Amazon destroys masses of new goods and returns. As a result, the Federal Government amended the Circular Economy Act.

In this breath, the so-called “duty of care” was introduced. In theory, the legislator wants to prevent mail order companies from destroying new products after they have been returned.

But Amazon doesn’t seem to stick to how the ZDF-Magazine frontal and Business Insider report with reference to employees of the company.

Amazon continues to destroy masses of new goods and returns

For research by Frontal and Business Insider the journalists involved met employees from several locations “over a period of several months”.

They secretly took photos showing what was to be destroyed: pallets with solar lights, toner cartridges, lamps, keyboards.

It is not recognizable that there are “any changes” after the change in the Circular Economy Act. “The destruction will continue,” explains one of the insiders.

When you see what is to be destroyed, your heart bleeds.

However, something has changed – namely the designation of the items that are to be disposed of. Before the law was changed, the pallets to be disposed of were labeled “Destry”. The group is now using terms such as “reprocessing” or “remove”.

Internal list confirms allegations

For the research, Frontal also evaluated an internal list from Amazon that had been passed to Greenpeace. According to this, the group disposed of around 1,840 tons of goods within a year and a half in the “Miscellaneous” product category alone.

Amazon employees see the problem in particular in the lack of controls. “I’ve never seen anyone open the destruction bins and look inside,” explains one of the insiders.

The Federal Environment Ministry confirms this at the request of Frontal. There is “currently no ordinance for the implementation of the duty of care”. It is therefore currently not possible to levy fines for illegal destruction of goods.

What is Amazon’s response to the allegations?

The group, on the other hand, is not aware of any guilt. Frontal had confronted the group with its research results. An Amazon spokeswoman responded in writing.

The company adheres to “any legal regulations”, quoted the ZDFmagazine the spokeswoman. She states that Amazon discards less than one percent of products sold and returned. This should also include the recycled products.

But Amazon is not the only seller who sells his goods on the so-called Marketplace. More than half of the items sold on the platform worldwide come from third-party sellers.

The company cannot decide about these goods, it is up to the “sales partners”. “Since the returned products do not belong to us,” the spokeswoman continued.

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