Your next Amazon package might look slightly different when you open it.
That’s because it will likely contain fewer plastic packaging materials, like those pesky plastic air pillows.
The e-commerce giant announced on Thursday that it’s changed its packaging strategy by removing 95% of its plastic air pillows from deliveries and replacing them with recyclable paper filler instead.
The company noted this is its largest effort to “remove plastic delivery packaging from North America fulfillment centres,” avoiding 15 billion plastic air pillows annually.
Amazon
Amazon has been heavily criticized for its use of plastic packaging materials in the past.
A 2021 report from independent environmental charity Oceana Canada found that the company generated 599 million pounds of plastic packaging waste in 2020 alone.
It also claimed that Amazon’s packaging waste in the form of its plastic air pillows “would circle the Earth more than 600 times.”
Amazon said its plastics reduction impacted Prime Day deliveries this past year, as nearly all customer packages sent out did not contain the plastic air pillows.
“I’m proud of the cross-Amazon collaboration to make a positive impact on the customer delivery experience with easier-to-recycle material,” said Pat Lindner, Amazon’s VP of Mechatronics and Sustainable Packaging, in a statement.
“It’s a great example of how we thoughtfully test and scale new solutions to protect our customer experience.”
Linder noted that the company is also working towards a full removal of plastic packaging materials in North America by the end of next year, prioritizing curbside recyclable materials instead.
Earlier this week, Amazon also announced another game-changing move for Canadian customers looking to return orders.
The company has partnered with Staples Canada to provide shoppers with a convenient new return option that minimizes the need to repackage items in shipping boxes.
As of June 18, all 298 Canadian retail locations of the office supply store will accept label-free, box-free returns from Amazon customers.
Have you noticed that your Amazon deliveries contain less plastic? Let us know in the comments.
With files from Isabelle Docto.