Tracking Amazon returns: Here's where they really go (Marketplace)

This is your Market. The season premiere begins now. What Amazon doesn't want you to know. I'd love to see w

here

Amazon

returns

end up. We couldn't handle all of Amazon. It's like cockroaches, it multiplies. Opening the secret world of your

returns

. That's gross. Settlement agreements? Or do we just buy a whole truckload of garbage? This is return, this is garbage. That's crazy. The real cost of those free returns, only in your Marketplace. Amazon is a giant and one of the first e-tailers to introduce easy and often free returns. But have you ever wondered w

here

those returns end?

What is this, all things Amazon? Amazon won't tell us. They want to keep it a secret. How many clients do you have? A lot. So we are collecting pallets from your returns that we purchased from a third party virtual auction. Clay pot, camp toilets. Many of them are happening. It could be because only one in ten purchases are returned in stores. But online that figure can increase to 40%. Just take a look inside this warehouse, with shelves full of unwanted Amazon returns. These men don't know that Marketplace producers are filming on their phones and are probably telling us more than

they

should.

We are blurring their faces to protect them. We're talking about billions of dollars worth of goods being shipped all over North America. But

where

is it all going? It's the hidden side of online shopping that most of us don't know much about, but we should. We're about to find out the real costs of free returns. Alright, let's open this up. We bought them on Amazon ourselves. Boots. Check it out. Oh, those are nice boots. Here we have women's backpacks. I have a monkey. We have many pockets. There are sheets, diapers and a toy train. Lots of blocks too.

Okay, are we ready? Let's introduce these trackers. All Amazon purchases, all from behind and all with these GPS devices hidden inside. I'm going to put the tracker on the toe of the boots and it fits perfectly there. Let's save the tracker here. I'm going to put the tracker on the jumpsuit. Well. That looks good. That looks good, right? I'll actually stick it to a block and then throw some blocks around it. Hi guys. We partnered with Basel Action Network. Alright guys, we want to verify that you have a signal for each of the trackers. Definitely. It is a Seattle-based environmental group that specializes in

tracking

waste around the world.

The tracker inside and taped together. Can you tell me if it pings? I'm looking at our portal back here. That bag is up and pinging. These devices become our guide to the secret side of e-commerce. I'm going to hit the tracker now. Yes, it's right on the CBC. Then send them back. Could not been more easy. Print the shipping label. Leave all the returns, with the trackers inside. And we're not the only ones who return things. Eddie, do you want to hold the balloons? Do you want to hold this? He meets Magida el Tamani and her sister, Sarah.

Well, let's look at the duckling. Hello. They are big Amazon buyers. Tell me some of the things you have here. Of course, I bought a juicer, a grill for the summer and also the star fruit pump 'n' slice. Do you have an alligator? The alligator... I have a friend who is obsessed with alligators. What do you like most about Amazon? Personally, I love the fact that I can match the price. There are also endless options. So, I like everything to be centralized in one place for me. Anything you would add? I love the fact that his return is so seamless.

They'll email you, you know, the return label and you'll just send it in case you're not... -Easy. -Yes, then, I love it. Magida is helping us with our test. I'm going to put this tracker in the box, put the screws back in. Take it back, let's see

where

it goes. -Thank you so much. -Thank you. See you. Within hours of delivering returns to our local post offices... ...

they

are on the move. They all pass through this Canada Post facility in Mississauga, Ontario. -So... -What is this building? Your destination is to the right. ..an unexpected turn. Should we just walk a little?

Yes. We know we have the blocks here. What else is here? I think the blocks and the boots. Turns out it's where Canada Post processes returns. Then we ask them how many Amazon packages they receive per day. Canada Post won't tell us, saying they can't share customer information, so we keep investigating. Our tracked packages arrive at this Amazon warehouse, west of Toronto. But most don't stay long. They are spreading. Just like Amazon itself, with huge warehouses opening across Ontario. That enormous growth comes with a huge environmental cost. Amazon admitted in 2019 that it emits as much carbon dioxide as a small country.

Thus, last year, a promise from CEO Jeff Bezos. Today we announce the climate commitment. Amazon becomes the first signatory of the climate commitment. But as Amazon goes green, we wonder if returns are included in that commitment. Online returns are not just an Amazon problem. But they are Canada's largest e-tailer. That's why we ask them repeatedly: what happens to all those returns? They won't tell us. But say that they are committed to the environment and also to reducing waste. Ecoblogger Meera Jain would like Amazon to say more. Amazon is a multi-billion dollar corporation and I think it has a lot of influence to do good, but I'm not sure it is using its power and influence in the right way right now.

I hope you are aware of your carbon footprint. What do you want to do? Chart! Chart? Alright! Meera is a mother of two, a teacher and tries to live zero waste. What have you got there? Rainbow. She is concerned about the impact online shopping has on the environment and she wants to know more. I'd love to see where Amazon returns end up. I think responsibility and openness as a company are very important, especially as a conscious consumer. And so knowing that, even finding out that they weren't in the right place, would help me make my decisions much more effectively.

From this single warehouse, most returns hit the road, quickly adding miles and carbon emissions. Remember those monkeys we returned? They pass through the Greater Toronto Area. After 170 kilometers they stop here. We investigate what they do in this facility. Electronics recycling and product destruction? But there was nothing wrong with monkeys, so why are they here? I have the cup here. The cup's hidden camera is on. Let's turn this on. We'll go undercover to find out. It's a nice, clear shot. Our cameraman is also filming from inside his truck. We pose as potential customers with Amazon returns pallets.

We don't show this manager's face because she is simply doing her job. What's that? Three to five trucks a week? She gives us a tour and shows us the industrial-sized crushers inside. After shredding, she says most is recycled, but she admits not all. Inside those walls is a place that receives truckloads of Amazon returns every week and they have a huge industrial shredder there. Because?! Our recycling system, not only in Canada but around the world, is extremely broken. Recycling is our last resort when thinking about how we want to dispose of items. We could resell it, we could re-gift it, we could rehome it somehow, reuse it somehow.

That would be much preferable to recycling. Amazon says the monkeys were sent to the e-waste facility by mistake. One that led us here to discover how some Amazon returns end up recycled or destroyed. But those monkeys are still on the move. This is return, this is garbage. These online companies cannot keep up with profits. The actual cost of those free returns remains in your Marketplace. Get more market. Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, cbc.ca/

marketplace

. This is your Market. We're

tracking

what Amazon does with your returns. I have a monkey. Including a pair of overalls in perfect condition that we returned.

That looks good. That looks good, right? We followed them to these facilities and learned that truckloads of Amazon returns end up here to be recycled or destroyed. We destroy products. But unlike all those trucks full of returns, our monkey keeps moving and the tracker sends us a signal from the road. Since we shipped them back to Amazon, the monkeys make five stops and travel more than 200 kilometers to get here. Do you see something there? You can't

really

see anything around here. Alright, let me take a look over the door. Well, it's like a warehouse. There are all types of Philips head shavers.

There are just boxes and boxes of all kinds of things. He almost looks like a liquidator. It turns out that many online returns, including those from Amazon, end up at liquidators. -Roy! -David, how are you? Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. We have three palettes here. Are you willing to take a look at it for me? Yes, I'll take a look! You have a little more experience. Roy Dirnbeck has been in the closeout business for over 25 years with several stores across the country. I'm going to put these three here and see what you have.

Alright, let's do it. Remember those Amazon returns pallets we bought from a liquidator? We're about to find out how much they're

really

worth. They put the best on the outside, so any big, good brand like Weber or whatever, all the good stuff will be on the outside. When you start digging in the middle, that's where they'll throw the rest of the trash. When you see this, right now, what do you think? These are returns, this is junk, these are stuff companies, especially these online companies, they can't keep up with returns, so they just find quick ways to sell it by the skid, by the truck, by the trailer, whatever .

Are you seeing more of this? Trailers and trailers every day. Okay, let's open it up and see what we have. Let's see what you have. We have two piles going. Things you can resell and things you would lose or throw away. It is a used food product. I would get rid of him. - Okay, what's up with this? -Toys are always easy to sell. He says "defective" so just throw it away because now we know it doesn't work. Foldable burlap storage cubes? Storage cubes that everyone is always trying to organize. Here, we have a guitar, man.

Let's see what kind of guitar we have. The strings are broken and so is the guitar. Roy shows us that he believes at least a third of these Amazon returns that ended up in clearance would probably be thrown in the trash. When you think about the volume of stuff you've seen over your career, a lot of this stuff comes from Amazon, it comes back from Amazon, how much of that ends up in the trash bin? It scares me to think about how much stuff goes back into landfills because there are endless amounts of this stuff every day.

You're actually trying to filter something and give it a new life. -Yeah. I try not to send it to the landfill. If it's something that has some value, I can save someone some money and I'll try to resell it. But can you save it all? No, obviously. Look. Look how much trash we took out of your three skates. All this junk shows that even returns that Amazon sends off for clearance for a new life can end up as junk. While there are no Canadian statistics, American experts estimate that five billion pounds of returns from all retailers end up in American landfills each year. -Hi David. - How are you?

Good. How are you? Meera joins us as we see where one of our returns ended up. We are here to show you something here. Oh no. I'm worried. So I'm thinking this is where Amazon returns are stored. Not quite, but he's about to find out and Magida joins us too. Remember, she is a big Amazon shopper. Meera, not so much. So we bought all this stuff on Amazon, including a bag like this one. Do you like it? -Is awesome. - Is awesome. Well. So we returned it, totally in good condition, and we want to show you where it ended up.

Well. I don't think it's anything good. I really have so many questions. Makes you reconsider buying on Amazon. Ultimately, it is the consumer who really pays for it. Searching for answers in your Marketplace. Do you have a story you think Marketplace should investigate next? Tell us everything via email, Twitter and Facebook. This is your Market. We are tracking Amazon returns. And we're about to reveal where the retail giant sent a new bag like this one. -I love it. - Would you buy this? I, sure, would do it. You would buy it from me right now. Of course.

Well, we took one like this, in just as good condition, and returned it to Amazon. And where do you think Amazon sent it? I'd love to guess here. That dumpster on the other side ofthe street. That's crazy! Oh Lord! -I am not happy. - Are not you happy? I am not happy! I'm really surprised by that because it's in perfect condition, so ending up in a waste management facility to me is really shocking because like I said, I would like that bag. The worrying thing about this is that if I had known they were going in the trash anyway, I would just resell it.

Good? Either donate it, or let someone else use it. Yes, exactly. My question also is why do you offer free returns if this is what is happening? All great questions. Unfortunately, we have some recyclables that shouldn't be here. And we took them to Professor Kevin Lyons at Rutgers University in New Jersey. He spends as much time in the dump as he does in the classroom. He has a PhD in environmental supply chain management. So a backpack like this, we returned it, Amazon... we threw it in the trash. What do you think about that? That's dissappointing. They did...probably, I don't know for sure, obviously, but some kind of cost value analysis and they figured out, you know what?

This is going to cost us more to try to sell it again than to simply throw it away. So that's unfortunate. I think most people would be outraged. When you look at things that could have been used by other people who might need them, it absolutely disturbs me and I think a lot of other consumers would be very disappointed as well. When we ask Amazon why the bag was thrown away, they tell us that it arrived damaged and could not be resold. So in this case, who decided it couldn't be resold? Amazon did it. We discovered Amazon Canada's commercial agreement with those who sell on the site.

Sellers have only two options when a customer returns a product: pay to return it or pay Amazon to dispose of it by selling, recycling, donating or destroying it. An investigation in France found that Amazon was throwing away hundreds of thousands of unsold products and returns. Shortly after, Amazon starts a new donation program for its third-party sellers. There is one in the US and also the UK, but none in Canada. In reality, the environment is paying a high price and I know people will say it's just one element, but if you think about the millions and sometimes billions of transactions that are happening in this space, the impact is incredible. .

Do you think the company owes you and Amazon consumers an explanation? Yes, I would say we are 100% owed an explanation. Our trackers show that some returns are still within Amazon. Others, the blocks, the printer and the boots, have been moved to new homes but, in doing so, travel more than 5,000 kilometers. I really have a lot of questions for everyone at that company. Makes you reconsider buying on Amazon. Once again, I'm really surprised. I don't know what to say. We also want answers from Amazon and again request an on-camera interview. They refuse, saying in a statement that our reports are inconsistent with their findings.

They say most Amazon returns are resold, recycled or donated, although they acknowledge some end up in the trash. How much exactly? They won't tell us that. What colors do you want? I want green, black and brown. -Please. -Thank you. Meera is doing her part and wants Amazon to do theirs too. What about the rest of us? Well, you can find some perfectly good returns on Amazon's warehouse deals site, and did you know that clothing is the type of return most likely to end up thrown away? Ultimately, we could all buy less and return less. I hope Amazon listens to me when I have a concern or desire.

They are a huge company and have a lot of capacity to generate change. We are wiring... We have as many cameras as possible. ..for detailed information on appliance repairs. It costs $200 to do the work on the machine, $80 to go to your house. Well. But they didn't tell me that. Because if they tell you it's $280, no one is going to come. Will the easy solution come at a huge cost? In total, he paid just under $700. Wow. This pump does not need to be replaced. In the men's bathroom, we ran out of soap in early May. The dirty truth about the biggest chains.

Excuse me. There is no soap in the bathroom. Caught on camera. Are supermarkets doing enough to keep you safe? Were you worried about getting COVID when you went to work? Yes all the time.