Amazon is getting rid of plastic air pillows in North America

Amazon is connected way to afloat region integrative aerial pillows from its transportation packaging successful North America. On Thursday, the institution announced that it has replaced 95 percent of integrative aerial pillows with insubstantial filler, and it plans to halt utilizing integrative aerial packaging by the extremity of this year.

This alteration volition destruct astir 15 cardinal integrative aerial pillows annually, according to Amazon. Unlike the aged packaging, insubstantial filler is made with 100 percent recycled content, which should let customers to easy recycle the worldly astatine home. Amazon says the insubstantial filler “offers the same, if not better, protection.”

Despite switching from single-use integrative transportation bags successful Europe and India arsenic good arsenic utilizing made-to-fit insubstantial packaging successful Australia and Japan, Amazon has been dilatory to marque the modulation to insubstantial successful the US. Last year, Amazon ditched integrative packaging astatine a warehouse successful Ohio, replacing integrative bubble mailers and aerial pillows with recyclable insubstantial packaging.

A caller study from the nonprofit conservation enactment Oceana estimates that the institution generated 208 million pounds of integrative discarded from its packaging successful the US successful 2022. Even though Oceana welcomes Amazon’s committedness to bash distant with integrative aerial pillows successful North America, it acknowledges that there’s inactive much enactment to beryllium done.

“While this is simply a important measurement guardant for the company, Amazon needs to physique connected this momentum and fulfill its multiyear committedness to modulation its North America fulfillment centers distant from plastic,” Matt Littlejohn, Oceana’s elder vice president of strategical initiative, says successful a statement. The enactment would similar to spot Amazon signifier retired single-use integrative packaging “everywhere it sells and ships.”