The online distribution giant Amazon will replace all its plastic packaging, including bubble wrap, with paper or cardboard by the end of the year in France, he announced Monday, November 15 in a statement.
Plastic sleeves, used to ship small products (books, cards, electronic chips, etc.) will be eliminated in favor of paper bags or cardboard envelopes, “More easily recyclable”.
Inside packages, bubble wrap or plastic cushions will also be replaced with kraft paper, Amazon said. Only certain items “For which it is a question of safety”, such as glasses or a vase, for example, can be wedged using bubble wrap, the group specifies. “We will continue to innovate and find solutions to use even more sustainable materials”said David Lewkowitz, director of operations at Amazon France Logistique, quoted in the press release.
Amazon “Also increases the number of products that can be shipped in their original packaging”, the company said, without mentioning how many will be affected.
Only products shipped by Amazon
These measures apply only to products shipped by Amazon, and not those sent directly to consumers by third-party sellers on the site. The group does not communicate about its business volume in France, but the firm Kantar estimated at 333 million the number of items purchased in France on Amazon in 2019. In total, Amazon claims to have already reduced by 36% the weight of its packaging since 2015, and “Eliminated over a million tonnes of packaging material”.
In France, fourteen e-merchants, including CDiscount, Fnac Darty or Veepee and the federation of e-commerce and distance selling (Fevad), signed a charter in July with the ministry for ecological transition and the secretariat of State of the digital world, in which they commit, in particular, to reducing packaging volumes and promoting reuse. Amazon, for its part, has not signed this charter of commitments.