amazon says it has gotten rid of plastic pillows in its warehouses.
“Starting in October 2024, we have removed all plastic air pillows from our delivery packaging used in our global fulfillment centers,” the e-commerce giant said in a statement. amazon-is-reducing-packaging”>October 9 blog post.
It's a welcome change after years of pressure from environmental groups to stop plastic pollution flooding the oceans. The company continues to work to more generally reduce the use of single-use plastics in its packaging.
“Fantastic news for the world's oceans”
“The fact that the world's largest e-commerce company has made global history with plastic air pillows is fantastic news for the world's oceans,” said Matt Littlejohn, senior vice president of strategic initiatives at the company. non-profit organization Oceana, in a amazon-puts-plastic-air-pillows-to-bed-globally/”>statement in response to amazon's announcement.
The most prolific type of plastic trash near coastlines is plastic film, a material that forms those once-ubiquitous air pillows, according to Oceana. That film also happens to be the “deadliest” type of plastic pollution for large mammals like whales and dolphins that could ingest itsays Oceana.
amazon's announcement comes after it pledged in June to ditch plastic air pillows in North America. amazon-replaces-plastic-air-pillows-in-packaging-north-america-us”>by the end of the year. The company switched from plastic air pillows and single-use delivery bags to paper and cardboard alternatives in Europe in 2022. It also ditched plastic film packaging at its facilities in India in 2020.
United States is amazon-leading-markets/”>amazon's largest marketplaceand the company has not yet managed to completely eliminate plastic packaging in North America. It says it plans to reduce the number of deliveries containing “amazon-added plastic delivery packaging” in North America to just one-third of shipments by December, down from two-thirds in December 2023.
