In a blog post on October 9, Amazon announced that starting from October 2024, the company no longer includes plastic air pillows in any delivery packaging used worldwide, The Verve reported.
This shift marks a positive step forward after advocacy from environmental groups aimed at reducing the amount of plastic waste entering our oceans. The company is continuing to work to minimize its use of single-use plastics in its packaging options.
“The fact that the world’s largest e-commerce company has made plastic air pillows history globally is fantastic news for the world’s oceans,” Matt Littlejohn, senior vice president of strategic initiatives at the nonprofit Oceana, expressed in a statement following Amazon’s announcement.
Air pillows, made from plastic film, contribute to the most common type of plastic litter along coastlines, Oceana reports. This material poses a lethal risk to marine mammals, such as whales and dolphins, due to the danger of ingestion.
Following a June promise to phase out plastic air pillows across North America by year’s end, Amazon has reaffirmed its commitment to sustainable packaging. In 2022, the company switched to paper and cardboard replacements in Europe, and in 2020, it eliminated plastic film packaging at its Indian facilities.
In its biggest market, the US, Amazon has not yet achieved a full phase-out of plastic packaging. The company aims to reduce the share of North American deliveries using “Amazon-added plastic delivery packaging” to one-third by December, a significant drop from two-thirds last December.
Amazon is a global technology company based in the United States, known primarily for its e-commerce platform, which offers a vast range of products including electronics, books, clothing, and more. Founded by Jeff Bezos in 1994, it has grown to become one of the largest online retailers in the world. Beyond e-commerce, Amazon is also a leader in cloud computing through its Amazon Web Services (AWS) division, as well as in digital streaming, artificial intelligence, and smart devices like the Echo.