Amazon announces 'largest reduction in plastic packaging,' doing away with air pillows

Amaris Encinas, USA TODAY
Updated ·3-min read

Amazon is changing how it boxes packages, swapping out plastic air pillows with recycled paper, a move the company says is more eco-friendly and will provide just as much protection, "if not better."

The change, announced Thursday, is part of a multi-year plan to remove plastic delivery packaging from fulfillment centers in North America.

The company says replacing the roughly 15 billion plastic air pillows used every year with recycled paper is the "largest reduction in plastic packaging in North America to date."

Amazon aims to “fully remove” plastic air pillows in packages by the end of the year, according to Pat Lindner, vice president of mechatronics and sustainable packaging. He adds that most, if not all, packages ordered and delivered on Prime Day in July will not be packed with plastic air pillows.

"We want to ensure that customers receive their items undamaged, while using as little packaging as possible to avoid waste, and prioritizing recyclable materials," Amazon said in a news release.

Paper is in, plastic is out, Amazon says

The shift to paper filler began in October, when Amazon began to test the eco-friendly alternative at a fulfillment center in Ohio, the company said.

A change in machinery, employee cooperation and a new supplier helped give the company the ability to transition to paper filler for 95% of shipments in less than a year, Amazon said.

The switch from plastic to paper is one example of efforts by Amazon to reduce waste over the years, citing campaigns, programs and partnerships that aim to “reduce packaging increase curbside recyclability across all operations and ensure products get to customers undamaged.”

Millions of pounds of waste created by Amazon packaging, study finds

Amazon generated 208 million pounds of plastic packaging waste in 2022, according to Oceana, an advocacy group dedicated to ocean conservation that reported arriving at that figure after analyzing e-commerce packaging data.

Packaging waste from air pillows alone could circle the Earth more than 200 times, according to the study.

"Oceana estimates that a large amount of plastic packaging continues to become marine plastic pollution," the group wrote. "Using plastic waste pollution data from a peer-reviewed study published in the journal Science in 2020, Oceana estimates that up to 22 million pounds of Amazon’s global plastic packaging waste from 2022 will end up in the world’s waterways and seas."

At the time, Oceana urged Amazon to "phase out plastic packaging in its largest market" in the United States and make a "company-wide commitment to reduce the total amount of plastic packaging it uses by at least one-third by 2030."

Matt Littlejohn, senior vice president of strategic initiatives at Oceana, said in a statement that Amazon's move to reduce plastic packaging is "welcome news" for the oceans and the company's customers.

"While this is a significant step forward for the company, Amazon needs to build on this momentum and fulfill its multiyear commitment to transition its North America fulfillment centers away from plastic," Littlejohn said. "Then, the company should expand these efforts and also push innovations like reusable packaging to move away from single-use packaging everywhere it sells and ships."

In its statement about eliminating plastic air pillows, Amazon said teams across the company "are working every day to further our sustainability initiatives in our operations and provide customers with a more sustainable shopping experience."

Amazon's most recent sustainability report can be found here.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Amazon chooses paper over plastic, announces major packaging change

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