This is ridiculous, Friend.

A recent investigation uncovered a bombshell for our environment over at Amazon: The company is destroying millions of unused or returned products.1

You can find practically anything on Amazon. But it turns out, the company will shred just about anything too -- from flat screens and laptops to hairdryers and headphones.2 You name it, Amazon has destroyed it.

Our waste crisis is already bad enough, with nearly 60 million tons of electronic waste poisoning our environment each year.3 The last thing we need is Amazon turning hundreds of thousands of usable products into toxic waste.

We're telling Amazon to stop shredding its products. Are you with us?

Instead of reusing or redistributing usable products, Amazon is shredding them -- by the thousands. One former employee even said that their "target" was to destroy more than 100,000 unused or returned items every week.4

So what happens to all this waste? Well for starters, it contributes to our e-waste crisis: E-waste is the fastest growing waste stream in the world -- every year, millions of tons of toxic materials in phones, computers, TVs and more poison our soil, water, air and wildlife.5

Plastic waste has also given us the horrific Great Pacific Garbage Patch -- a swirling mass of garbage in the Pacific Ocean that's twice the size of Texas.6 Beyond that, our landfills, beaches and parks are overflowing with trash. The list goes on.

I know I don't need to tell you about the harms that plastic waste does to our environment, but it seems Amazon might need a reminder. Tell Amazon: Stop shredding unsold or returned products.

If you think about all the plastic products that we use, the recycling rate is low beyond belief: More than 90 percent of plastic is never recycled.7

Now Amazon's adding to our waste crisis by destroying products that weren't even used? It's outrageous -- Amazon's adding fuel to the fire.

Former employees were astonished: "I used to gasp. There's no rhyme or reason to what gets destroyed ... Overall, 50 percent of all items are unopened and still in their shrink wrap. The other half are returns and in good condition."8

Don't you think it's time for Amazon to stop shredding usable products? Add your name to tell Amazon CEO Andy Jassy to put a stop to this recklessness.

Thank you,

Rex Wilmouth
Senior Program Director

1. Richard Pallot, "Amazon destroying millions of items of unsold stock in one of its UK warehouses every year, ITV News investigation finds," ITV News, June 22, 2021.
2. Richard Pallot, "Amazon destroying millions of items of unsold stock in one of its UK warehouses every year, ITV News investigation finds," ITV News, June 22, 2021.
3. "Electronic waste is destroying the planet, but we can fix that," U.S. PIRG, April 27, 2021.
4. Richard Pallot, "Amazon destroying millions of items of unsold stock in one of its UK warehouses every year, ITV News investigation finds," ITV News, June 22, 2021.
5. "Electronic waste is destroying the planet, but we can fix that," U.S. PIRG, April 27, 2021.
6. "Great Pacific Garbage Patch," National Geographic, last accessed July 15, 2021.
7. "A Whopping 91 Percent of Plastic Isn't Recycled," National Geographic, last accessed July 15, 2021.
8. Richard Pallot, "Amazon destroying millions of items of unsold stock in one of its UK warehouses every year, ITV News investigation finds," ITV News, June 22, 2021.