Amazon to remove plastic air pillows from packaging
Amazon announced its intention to remove all plastic air pillows in its packages by the end of the year.
Pat Lindner, vice president of mechatronics and sustainable packaging, said most — if not all — packages ordered and delivered on Prime Day in July will be packed with paper filler rather than the plastic air pillows, USA Today reported.
“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.
Amazon uses almost 15 billion plastic air pillows every year, the company said, and the switch to recycled paper would be the “largest reduction in plastic packaging in North America to date.”
Roughly 95% of the plastic air pillows have already been replaced from delivery packaging in North America as of Thursday, Amazon said.
The shift to paper filler began in October, when Amazon began to test the eco-friendly alternative at a fulfillment center in Ohio, according to USA Today.
Amazon generated 599 million pounds of plastic packaging waste in 2020, an increase of about 20% from 2019, according to Oceana, an advocacy group dedicated to ocean conservation, USA Today reported.
Other ways the company is pursuing sustainability initiatives include powering operations by renewable energy and increasing electric and sustainable delivery options, according to Amazon’s 2022 Sustainability Report.
Megan Swift is a TribLive reporter covering trending news in Western Pennsylvania. A Murrysville native, she joined the Trib full time in 2023 after serving as editor-in-chief of The Daily Collegian at Penn State. She previously worked as a Jim Borden Scholarship intern at the Trib for three summers. She can be reached at mswift@triblive.com.
Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.