The Fulfillment by Amazon Donations program is aimed at third-party sellers who store their items in Amazon’s US and UK warehouses. CNBC reports that from September 1, the program will become the default option for goods selected for disposal, though it will be possible to opt-out.
Prior to the introduction of the FBA Donations program, simply destroying unsold products was a cheaper option for third-party sellers, costing just 15 cents per item compared to 50 cents to return the goods. The donations program will become the default option for all sellers in the U.S. and U.K. using Amazon’s platform. A recent report from a Frech TV station found that Amazon destroyed more than three million products in France alone in 2018.
CBS News reported that one Amazon facility sent 293,000 items to a local dump during a nine-month period, while French TV Chanel M6 recently revealed that Amazon destroys 3 million products per year in that country alone.
FBA Donations marks the latest attempt on Amazon’s part to cut down on the significant amount of waste that the company is responsible for. Earlier this month, the company announced that it would begin fining sellers who ship products in oversized boxes. Last year, the company launched recycling and green energy initiatives in the US and UK.
