The Rachel Maclean MP column:
I AM sure many of you would have seen coverage which highlighted Amazon’s practices around unsold stock.
As you will know, Amazon is due to open a fulfilment centre in Redditch later this year. I of course welcome this investment in our town and the hundreds of good paying jobs this will create.
However, having watched the footage for myself, I was totally shocked and very disappointed to discover Amazon is allegedly destroying millions of items of unsold stock every year at its fulfilment centres.
With the need to protect our environment high on the priorities of local residents and the government, unsold stock should not be sent to landfill. Everything must be done to avoid this happening.
This practice is completely unacceptable, immoral and no doubt illegal, and I have sought assurances from Amazon that this practice does not happen at the fulfilment centre in Redditch once it is operational.
I wrote to John Boumphrey, Amazon UK country manager, to reassure myself and constituents that Amazon’s business practises are not antithetical to the Government’s environmental aims.
I also asked for further information on Amazon’s returns, waste and recycling policy to demonstrate they take this issue seriously.
It’s only fair I share with you what Mr Boumphrey said to me in response. He said Amazon does not send any items to landfill in the UK.
He also claimed the footage we all saw showed lorries entering a site called The Lochhead Landfill, this facility is a part of the Dunfermline Recycling Centre and any items Amazon sends there are processed for recycling, or as a last resort, energy recovery.
Energy recovery is a way of processing non-recyclable waste and turning it into usable sources of energy.
I have Amazon’s assurances in black and white now, and as the fulfilment centre in Redditch becomes operational, I will of course be following this issue closely and ensuring Amazon sticks to their word.
