Greens: Amazon must answer for shocking Fife waste stockpile
Scottish Greens environment spokesperson and Mid Scotland and Fife MSP Mark Ruskell has called on Amazon to answer for shocking numbers of items being destroyed and sent to recycling or landfill at its Dunfermline warehouse.
An investigation by ITN has revealed staff have a target to destroy 130,000 items a week, including TVs, laptops, vacuum cleaners and COVID PPE.
In one week in April, a leaked document from inside the Dunfermline warehouse showed more than 124,000 items marked 'destroy'. To repeat, that's just for seven days. In contrast, just 28,000 items in the same period were labelled 'donate'.
Mark Ruskell said: “Amazon’s net profit has soared during this crisis while many people have struggled to make ends meet. It’s therefore obscene that this multi-billion corporation finds it more profitable to put unused items in the bin than help people out.
“It is a damning indictment of our economy that the throwaway culture is put before people’s needs. Even if it is not reflective of wider Amazon policy, the company must answer for why the Dunfermline warehouse has such high levels of waste and so little is resold or given to charities.
"This shocking revelation shows that governments must do more to force companies to design waste out of their systems, with regulation and fines where they are failing to do the right thing.”