An undercover report at Amazon has led to a major uproar in France. The television programme Capital infiltrated a French distribution centre of Amazon, claiming that the e-commerce giant destroys hundreds of thousands of unsold products at this location alone.
Capital, a programme on French television channel M6, went undercover in Amazon's relatively small distribution centre in the town of Saran. Here, Amazon handles the fulfilment of orders from external partners, who use the Fulfillment at Amazon (FBA) service.
Hundreds of thousands of products
From these partners allegedly destroyed hundreds of thousands of products in the past nine months. In making this accusation, the programme makers are basing themselves on interviews with former employees and official destruction figures.
'Take back or have it destroyed'
Third-party sellers who engage with Amazon are given a choice in their contract whether to take back unsold stock or have it destroyed. That choice is said to have destroyed 293,000 items in nine months in Saran. It is estimated that Amazon destroys around 3 million products a year in all French distribution centres, destroying them by incineration or through landfills.
Reaction French politics
The broadcast also evoked outrage in French politics. A new law is now said to be in the making that prohibits companies like Amazon from throwing away usable products. A petition calls on Amazon to donate usable, unsold products to poor families.
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