Amazon Cutting Back on Plastic Packaging

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster):  One of the largest players in delivery, Amazon, has announced a major cutdown in plastic use, opting for paper packaging instead of plastic.

Those who made the decision believe customers nationwide will notice the difference in a positive way.

“Our strategy is effectively three-fold. One is to eliminate packaging wherever possible. Number two is to reduce it if we can’t eliminate it. Number three is to move to curbside recyclable paper,” Pat Lindner said.

Lindner is the vice president of mechatronics and sustainable packaging at Amazon. He says in 2022, Amazon used just over 86,000 metric tons of plastics.

 “In the total context of plastics in the packaging industry, we’re still a relatively small contributor. That being said, we have work to do to convert to curbside recyclable paper, and we’re focused on it and have it as a priority,” Lindner said.

The first step in achieving that priority is removing 95% of plastic air pillows.

“That’s going to eliminate 15 billion plastic bags that we used and 2 billion packages that otherwise would have contained plastic. So, 2 billion packages will no longer contain plastics, whereas if we didn’t make this change, they would have,” Lindner said.

Before making the switch, they had to find out if the paper would still keep your packages safe, so they ran some damage testing.

 “What we found was the paper that we developed was cushioning, and it absorbs some of the energy with the items inside the box and prevented them from hitting the walls, whereas the plastic air pillows create a trampoline or bouncing effect,” Lindner said.

Lindner also says the change has a positive impact on the packers at fulfillment centers.

“They take tremendous pride in getting those packages to the customers safely and those items being undamaged. Now they can pack efficiently — the air pillows did not give the opportunity,” Lindner said.

At the fulfillment center in Sioux Falls, there are already no more plastic air pillows being produced.

Nearly all customers in our area who place an order as part of Prime Day in July will see recyclable paper filler.

 Courtesy: www.dakotanewsnow.com