Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to recent reports of unsold electrical goods being destroyed by Amazon, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to make it unlawful for retailers to destroy unsold stock.

There is already an obligation, set out in the Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011, for businesses that handle waste to take all measures reasonable to apply the waste hierarchy. Failure to meet the legal obligation can lead to enforcement action from the Environment Agency in England.

We also have a producer responsibility system in place under the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations to ensure all waste electrical and electronic products are collected and treated properly. This supports action in line with the waste hierarchy by those who treat electronics to ensure priority is given to preparing the products for reuse where possible, and then recycling so full use is made of components and materials.