There are reports that an Amazon UK warehouse in Dunfermline, Scotland, destroyed a huge collection of unsold items in its inventory recently, in what may be an ongoing process. Obviously, there had been some suspicions concerning the operations of the Amazon warehouse in Dunfermline that warranted British TV channel ITV to carry out a covert investigation of the facility.
There are 24 Amazon holding facilities spread across the United Kingdom, and the Dunfermline warehouse is among the largest in the UK. The purpose of the investigation was to determine what happens to unsold items in the fulfillment center amidst concerns of massive wastage within these warehouses. The outcome of the investigation showed that there were multiple cases of enormous destruction of unsold items within the facility. ITV has extensive and multiple footages of some of these instances where thousands of bins of unsold items were marked “destroy”, with unnamed inside sources claiming that this was a regular occurrence.
Furthermore, there are indications that Amazon may be forcing employees to aim at a target of about 130,000 items destroyed every week. The statistics for the entire chain of UK fulfillment centers would be staggering indeed, running into billions of dollars. It is unclear whether all the marked bins will eventually reach waste dumps or be given out by the company. It is also possible that these items could still find their way back to the market through insider dealings by unscrupulous staff.
Amazon’s multi-billion dollar business thrives on uncluttered warehouses to receive new orders and operate seamlessly. But it is still possible to accomplish this objective by finding better ways of disposing of unsold items for greater economic and environmental impact.
The ITV investigation also established several instances of successful disposal of the marked items in designated landfills and other disposal sites. The report is already drawing the attention of politicians and stakeholders for a more holistic approach to the issue. If indeed these practices are also prevalent in the other centers, then Amazon is leaving a huge carbon footprint on its trail when more companies are embracing sustainability practices.
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