Amazon says it has nearly eliminated the plastic air pillows used in its North American delivery packaging, significantly cutting waste in its fulfilment centres.
The tech giant says 95% of the plastic air pillows have been replaced with paper filler and expects to phase out plastic air pillows by the end of this year.
The initiative is set to prevent nearly 15 billion plastic air pillows being used each year.
According to Amazon, the paper filler provides “the same, if not better” product protection than plastic air pillows.
It is also thought to contain 100% recycled content and be recyclable at kerbside, meaning consumers can dispose of their packaging via household recycling streams.
Amazon says for Prime Day this year – taking place on 16 – 17 July – nearly all of its customer deliveries will not contain plastic air pillows.
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Amazon VP of mechatronics and sustainable packaging Pat Lindner, said:”I’m proud of the cross-Amazon collaboration to make a positive impact on the customer delivery experience with easier to recycle materials. It’s a great example of how we thoughtfully test and scale new solutions to protect our customer experience.
“We are working towards full removal in North America by end of year and will continue to innovate, test, and scale in order to prioritize curbside recyclable materials.”
Last October, Amazon announced its first US automated fulfillment center in Ohio to eliminate plastic delivery packaging, including the transition from plastic air pillows to paper filler.
Earlier this year, it was revealed Amazon was using a new AI model to help determine the most efficient type of packaging for each item, in an effort to speed up the process of meeting its sustainability goals.
