Stop Burning usable goods!

Online retailers are sending the planet up in smoke

Our current system of production is broken. It is based on a few giant corporations following a model of ultra-fast overproduction, resulting in throwing away billions of usable goods - including brand new clothes, electronics and even sanitary products.

They produce too much and then spend millions on advertising to convince consumers to buy things we don't really need. Yet, even so, corporations aren't able to sell everything they produce.

Instead of donating to charities, recycling the products, or better yet not producing so much in the first place, online giants and fast-fashion retailers prefer to create landfills of unsold, usable goods or even to burn them.

Amid the pandemic, Amazon destroyed millions of goods such as Covid masks, books, and tablets. And just 6% of fashion retailer Shein’s inventory remains in stock for no more than 90 days - anything not sold in that time simply gets thrown away.

Right now, corporations bear no consequences. Their wasteful business model is already well-known for exploiting workers and annihilating our climate. On top of this, they are even burning usable goods and sending our planet up in smoke!

But banning the burning of goods will drastically increase the costs of these outrageous practices, forcing companies to think twice before overproducing.

Therefore, we call upon the European Commission, the Parliament and EU Member states to:

• Include the ban of this immoral practice in the EU Circular Economy Action Plan as well as in national legislation

• Ban companies that systematically throw away, destroy, or burn usable goods, from selling in Europe

• Hold corporations accountable for the disposal of their production by extending producer responsibility over used goods, such as worn clothes and old electronics