Monday 22 November 2021
Less plastic waste from 2022
Amazon is switching to paper packaging
In recent years, environmental organizations have repeatedly accused Amazon of being jointly responsible for the pollution of the oceans with its plastic packaging. Now things are set to change in terms of sustainability. However, the shipping giant does not want to do without plastic completely.
The online retailer Amazon wants to largely dispense with plastic packaging when shipping. This applies both to the products sold on their own account and to the external dealers who use the shipping service of the US group in Germany.
The conversion should be completed by the end of the year, as announced by the German Amazon headquarters. Smaller deliveries should be made in paper-based mailers and bags, only larger items in corrugated cardboard boxes.
In recent years, environmental organizations have accused Amazon of producing too much plastic waste with its packaging and of being jointly responsible for the pollution of the oceans. According to an analysis by the Cologne retail institute EHI 2020, the company was by far the market leader in German online mail order business – ahead of Otto and Zalando.
“Appropriate single-use plastic bags” allowed
According to the announcement, Amazon now wants to make packaging more sustainable by using as large a proportion of easily recyclable materials as possible. However, plastic packaging is not completely banned.
One of the possible exceptions concerns bubble wrap for fragile items like glass. If manufacturers deliver their products in “suitable one-way plastic bags”, Amazon also wants to use these bags for onward shipping.