Amazon has changed single-use plastic air pillows with recycled paper in 95 % of its supply containers in North America. A full swap is deliberate by the 2024 vacation retail season.
The transfer, introduced June 20, will minimize an estimated 15 billion of those cushions yearly and follows an identical elimination course of in Europe in the summertime of 2022. Roughly 40 % of Amazon orders are shipped in these containers. The Seattle-based retailer has minimize 37,150 tons of plastic packaging since 2020, however it nonetheless used 85,916 tons of single-use plastic in 2022.
Eliminating the pillows represents Amazon’s greatest plastic discount but. Amazon is phasing out single-use plastics throughout its worldwide supply community. The corporate eradicated additional packaging fully by delivery about 11 % of things of their unique containers. It is usually switching from plastic to paper envelopes, a course of that started earlier this yr.
The plastic pillow drawback
“Wherever we are able to, we use recycled content material. However generally automation applied sciences make that more difficult,” stated Pat Lindner, vice chairman of mechatronics and sustainable packaging at Amazon.
Even when you can gather them, used air pillows are tough to recycle as a result of they usually jam sorters. “Most air pillows wouldn’t have efficient recycling packages, even when you take the time to pop them one after the other,” stated Judith Enck, president of Past Plastics, and a former Atmosphere Safety Company administrator. “Paper and different fiber merchandise are appropriate options.”
An estimated 460 million metric tons of plastic have been produced final yr, and at the least one-third went into packaging, in line with information cited by the Plastic Air pollution Coalition (PPC).
Paper is a greater shock absorber
Biodegradable merchandise might be discarded extra simply. Paper (recycled or in any other case) or algae- and mushroom-derived fillers are higher for cushioning gadgets, stated Erica Cirino, communications supervisor on the PPC.
Except for being eligible for curbside recycling, paper absorbs drops and different stresses extra successfully than pillows, stated Clint Haynes, vice chairman and associate with Stress Engineering, which helped Amazon change the air pillows. They fill “crumple zones” and take up power from impacts, somewhat than permitting them to bounce round.
The way in which packages are shipped has modified little for the reason that Seventies, stated Haynes. “For those who’re a believer in the place e-commerce goes to go, it’s essential begin rethinking the basics of your packaging packages,” he stated.
Gear and course of overhaul required
Amazon examined the modifications in an innovation heart close to its Seattle headquarters and at its achievement heart in Cleveland, the primary to change from plastic to paper mailing envelopes in late 2023. The corporate changed the feeders for the plastic air pillows, which have been leased, with canisters that dispense the paper. The testing prices got here from Amazon’s innovation funds, however upgrades have been a part of common capital expenditures throughout its amenities, Lindner stated.
Among the many elements Amazon evaluated have been how lengthy it takes to fill and seal a package deal (the brand new course of is faster) and the ergonomics related to the method, together with the peak of the dispensers (which might be adjusted for people), Lindner stated. The brand new course of provides workers “extra flexibility to guard … and permits them to be extra considerate,” he stated.
