Amazon.com Inc. is rolling out a new program under which excess and returned items from third-party sellers who use Fulfillment by Amazon, or FBA, will be donated to charitable institutions.
The program called FBA Donations will begin accepting items from merchants in the U.S. and the U.K. from Sept. 1, the e-commerce giant said in an Aug. 14 blog post.
In the U.S., Amazon is working with charitable organization Good360, which distributes the donations through a network of nonprofits. In the U.K., it is partnering with charities such as Newlife, Salvation Army and Barnardo's.
The move comes amid reports of Amazon routinely destroying unsold and unwanted inventory, CNBC reported. One documentary reportedly stated that Amazon destroyed over 3,000,000 products in France last year.
Sought for comment, an Amazon spokesperson told S&P Global Market Intelligence that majority of returned products are resold to other customers or liquidators, returned to suppliers, or donated to charitable organizations, depending on their condition.
