U.S. online retailer Amazon faced new French government pressure on Monday after a TV report over the weekend showed it destroying thousands of new diapers, toys and other unsold or returned items in perfect condition.
Brune Poirson, a secretary of state for France’s ecological transition, said after the broadcast on Sunday that she was “shocked” by the allegations and would render businesses “responsible” for such practices.
“In the coming months a law will be passed in Parliament that will outlaw this type of activity. Companies like Amazon will no longer be able to throw away products that can still be used,” Ms. Poirson said.
The “Capital” programme on M6 television showed footage from a journalist who got himself hired recently at Amazon’s distribution centre in Saran, outside Orleans in central France.
He was able to film workers throwing dozens of coffee makers, unopened Lego boxes and brand-name packs of diapers into huge garbage containers, instead of recycling or donating them to charity.
The report also showed drone footage of discarded items headed to incinerators or landfills, which environmental activists denounced as an “ecological disaster.” Destroying unsold goods is allowed under Amazon’s contracts with sellers on its “Marketplace” platform, which hosts third-party retailers who often have stock in Amazon warehouses.
