Campaign Response: Amazon Waste

I have been contacted by constituents regarding Amazon Waste.

As the Member of Parliament for Milton Keynes South, I have included below my response:

It is my understanding that my ministerial colleagues are aware of reports of Amazon destroying unsold products and are considering whether there needs to be a change in the law. The environment secretary, George Eustice MP, has said that the Government is also in talks with Amazon about these extraordinary findings.

Businesses that handle waste, including companies like Amazon, are obliged to follow the waste hierarchy, under the Waste Regulations 2011, which requires action to prevent waste as the priority option. Failure to meet the legal obligation to take all reasonable steps to apply these steps can lead to enforcement action from the Environment Agency in England.

It is imperative we end the throwaway culture and recycle more of our waste. I would like to assure you that I am committed to creating a more circular economy for our waste and resources, and by 2035 the Government wants to be recycling at least 65 per cent of our municipal waste with a maximum of 10 per cent going to landfill.

More widely, through the 25 Year Environment Plan, the Government is committed to leaving the environment in a better state than they inherited it. Ministers will help do this by transforming the way we use our waste and resources, and by 2042 they want to have eliminated all avoidable plastic waste, with all avoidable waste being stopped by 2050.