AMAZON has introduced new policy changes to reduce waste after an investigation claimed that the company's Dunfermline warehouse was destroying millions of items of unsold stock every year.

Undercover filming inside the fulfilment centre appeared to show that products, including new and unused goods, were being sorted into boxes marked 'Destroy'.

The report from ITV News in June claimed that Smart TVs, laptops, drones, hairdryers, top-of-the-range headphones, computer drives, books galore, thousands of sealed face masks and more items had all been categorised this way.

Unsold goods were thrown into the vast bins, it was reported, before being taken away by lorries from the centre to recycling sites.

The claims triggered widespread criticism from climate activist Greta Thunberg to Prime Minister Boris Johnson who said the practice was "unacceptable".

Just under two months later, the tech giant announced last week that it had introduced two new Fulfilment By Amazon (FBA) programmes, designed to make it easier for businesses selling on Amazon to resell customer-returned items or overstock inventory, while also giving more products a second life.

The 'FBA Grade and Re-sell' will allow third-party selling partners the option to sell returned products on Amazon as 'used' items instead of having them sent back to them or donated. It is now available in the UK, and will be available in the US by the end of year, and in Germany, France, Italy and Spain by early 2022.

When an item is returned, sellers can choose to route it automatically to this new programme and Amazon will then evaluate the item and assign it one of four standard conditions: Used – Like New; Used – Very Good; Used – Good; and Used – Acceptable.

The other programme, 'FBA Liquidations', is set to go live in the UK in August and gives sellers the option to use the company’s wholesale resale channel and technology to provide them with a way to recover a portion of their inventory cost from their returned or overstock inventory.

Previously, the FBA Donations programme was the only FBA scheme and it was launched in 2019 as an automatic way for sellers to donate their overstock or returned items.

The process is 'hands-off' for sellers – so the online giant can use its “supply chain and operational expertise so the right items get to the right charity partners”.

The claims centring around practices at Amazon's Dunfermline warehouse surfaced after a former employee came forward anonymously but has now identified himself as Raymond Joseph.

The former employee had documented the amount of unwanted stock heading for recycling over a period of months.

He filmed footage on his phone secretly and video evidence appeared to show electrical goods, jewellery and even unread books all marked to be destroyed.

In one week in April, a leaked document from inside the Dunfermline warehouse showed more than 124,000 items marked 'Destroy'. In contrast, 28,000 items in the same period were labelled 'Donate'.

In some weeks, as many as 200,000 items could be marked 'Destroy', the source claimed.

Amazon has denied that any items are sent to "landfill", as claimed in the report, and goods will be sent to "energy recovery" as a last resort.

“Customer returns are a fact of life for all retailers, and what to do with those products is an industry-wide challenge,” said Libby Johnson McKee, director, Amazon WW Returns, ReCommerce and Sustainability.

“These new programmes are examples of the steps we’re taking to ensure that products sold on Amazon – whether by us or our small business partners – go to good use and don’t become waste.

"Along with existing programmes like FBA Donations, we hope these help build a circular economy and reduce our impact on the planet.

"And we’re excited that these programmes will also help the businesses selling on Amazon reduce costs and grow their businesses – it’s a win for our partners, customers and communities.”