Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall calls on government to 'legislate against waste' after ITV News reveals Amazon binning stock
ITV News Correspondent Richard Pallot analyses the political pressure growing on Amazon following his previous reports
The government needs to "legislate against this appalling waste that's completely unjustifiable", environmental campaigner Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has told ITV News.
His comments come as political pressure continues to grow on Amazon after ITV News revealed how the global giant business is destroying millions of brand new and unused items.
Undercover filming from inside an Amazon warehouse reveals the sheer scale of waste, which includes Smart TVs, laptops, books and sealed face masks – all sorted into boxes marked "destroy".
Mr Fearnley-Whittingstall, who has previously highlighted Amazon's excessive packaging and waste, said: "If government make them do things then they will change but if you leave it to their better consciences - it's not going to change.
"So we need customers to boycott businesses that don't do the right thing and we need government to legislate against this appalling level of waste that's completely unjustifiable."
Three days after our revelations became public the company's UK boss, John Boumphrey, still remains silent.
It was the Dunfermline warehouse where we uncovered 124,000 unsold and useable items being sent for destruction in a single week.
The Scottish Government earlier on Thursday was urged to stop providing subsidies to the company as Amazon's Dunfermline warehouse continues to be at the centre of the scandal.
When asked by the Co-Leader of the Scottish Green Party, Lorna Slater whether the First Minister will commit to enshrining the circular economy in robust laws, Nicola Sturgeon suggested earlier in Scottish Parliament that Amazon should regulate themselves.
Ms Sturgeon said: "I don't think any company the size and scale of Amazon should need a government to tell it that it shouldn't be destroying large amount of things that could actually be given to people in need."
There are also serious questions about whether UK government in Westminster should have previously done more to combat waste from companies.
The Environment Secretary told ITV News the UK government are looking into "strengthening all the laws" around this.
George Eustice told ITV News: "We are looking at strengthening all the laws around electronics recycling so that we can put a much stronger onus on the retailers and on the manufacturers of these goods to ensure they take ownership and responsibility for recycling them."
In a statement, Amazon told ITV News: "We do not send items to landfill in the UK. Every year, we donate millions of products to charities across the country.
"We have more work to do but our goal is to get to zero product disposal."