Amazon’s plans to eliminate plastic: When will the online retailer switch to recycled paper?
Amazon has announced that it will eliminate 95% of plastic air pillows from its shipping packages. When will the company implement the measure?
Amazon has announced it will eliminate 95% of plastic air pillows from its shipments in North America as a measure to avoid waste and prioritize recyclable materials.
“To date, this will be Amazon’s largest plastic packaging reduction effort in North America and will prevent nearly 15 billion plastic air pillows annually,” the company said in a statement.
The measure will be implemented very soon, as Amazon reported that for this year’s Prime Day, “almost all deliveries will not contain pillows of plastic air.” The Prime Day event is celebrated in July.
Pat Lindner, vice president of Mechatronics and Sustainable Packaging, said the company is also working to achieve total elimination in North America by the end of the year. “We will continue to innovate, test and scale to prioritize recyclable materials,” he said.
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Amazon will switch to paper fillers
Last October, the company announced the U.S. automated fulfillment center in Ohio would eliminate plastic packaging for delivery, including transitioning from plastic air pillows to paper fills.
“This work in Ohio allowed us to test, learn and move quickly in the transition to filling paper for 95% of our shipments in less than a year,” the company noted. Now, Amazon plans to use paper fill made with 100% recycled content.
“Through our testing of paper fill, which included an evaluation by a third-party engineering laboratory, we found that it offers the same, if not better, product protection than plastic air pillows. Paper fill is also curbside recyclable, making it easy for our customers to recycle at home, and is made with 100% recycled content,” the retailer added.
Amazon also has programs to ship items without any additional packaging, where they test and certify products to ensure that they can be shipped safely in their own packaging. In addition, the company says they are constantly looking for new materials and recycling solutions that take customers and the environment into account.