FOOTAGE from inside Amazon’s Dunfermline fulfilment centre has revealed the online giant sending large pallets of unopened food and drink to be destroyed.

Filming from the warehouse shows hundreds of sealed, in-date items including bottled water, soup, baked beans, soft drinks, crisps, cereals and more placed in vast bins labelled as waste.

The videos were recorded by an anonymous member of staff at the Dunfermline site who works in the returns department, where the unused items are sent back to.

He told ITV News: “I reckon 70 per cent of what we put in bins is sealed and in its packaging. It’s stuff like Heinz tins of soups or tins of beans.

"Unopened bottles of water, coke, orange squash or nutrition drinks. I’ve also thrown away in date fancy chocolates or Easter Eggs, treats that kids would love.”

Amazon says it does not donate sealed food that has been returned or left in its warehouses because they cannot guarantee its safety.

A spokesperson told the Press: “Amazon supports 23 food banks and charities across the UK, and so far this year we’ve donated 2.9 million food and drink products.

"To suggest we throw away perfectly good food or drink is wrong: if we can donate it, we donate it.

"As our customers would expect – and in line with UK food safety regulations – we do not donate food that poses a safety risk.

"That includes items past their use-by date, that could have been damaged, or that have been returned and we can no longer guarantee their safety or quality.

“It is better for the environment, our customers, our communities, and for our business when we can resell or donate these products.

"As will be the case with most retailers, we have more work to do, but we are working towards a goal of zero product disposal.”

Food products from Dunfermline deemed not safe for donation are sent to the anaerobic digestion plant at Lochhead, north of Wellwood, to be converted into energy and soil improvement products. They do not go to landfill.

The spokesperson added: “Our priority is to resell, donate or recycle any unsold products.

"We recognise that confusion may have stemmed from our use of the word 'destroy'. We are in the process of replacing it with terms that more accurately reflect our long-standing business practices.

“Every year, Amazon donates millions of products to charities across the country. No items are sent to landfill in the UK.”

The footage follows a report last month which claimed that Amazon’s Dunfermline warehouse is destroying millions of items of unsold stock every year.

Undercover filming inside the fulfilment centre has revealed that products, including new and unused goods, are being sorted into boxes marked ‘destroy’.

The report from ITV News discovered that smart TVs, laptops, drones, hairdryers, top of the range headphones, computer drives, books, thousands of sealed face masks and more items have all been categorised this way.

ITV reported that the unsold goods were thrown into the vast bins before being taken away by lorries from the centre to recycling sites, including Lochhead.