Amazon It said Thursday that it has removed 95% of plastic airbags from its packaging in North America and will replace them with paper inserts made from 100% recycled content.
This represents Amazon's largest effort to reduce plastic packaging and will help it eliminate approximately 15 billion plastic pillows annually.
“We are working toward full elimination in North America by the end of the year and will continue to innovate, test and expand in order to prioritize recyclable materials,” Pat Lindner, vice president of mechatronics and sustainable packaging, said in the announcement.
The e-commerce company began transitioning away from plastic filler in October 2023 when it announced its first automated fulfillment center in the U.S. to eliminate plastic delivery packaging. Amazon has instead teamed up with suppliers to source paper inserts that are also recyclable.
This is not the first step Amazon has taken to reduce packaging waste. In 2015, the company launched the In-Package Shipping Program, an initiative designed to reduce the use of Amazon's signature brown box and instead ship products in their original packaging.
