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Non-profit Oceana claims Amazon’s plastic packaging waste grew in the US in 2022, despite its efforts to reduce plastic in Europe and India.
A new report suggests Amazon’s efforts to reduce its use of plastic isn’t going well in the US.
The non-profit Oceana claims Amazon generated an estimated 208m pounds of plastic packaging waste for all transactions in the US in 2022, which is an increase of 9.6pc compared to Oceana’s estimate for 2021.
Oceana said it calculated the amount of plastic packaging waste generated by Amazon in the US based on available market data and made adjustments informed by “recent public communications from the company” about its plastic packaging changes.
In December 2023, the digital retail giant claimed it decreased its single-use plastic delivery packaging by 11.6pc across its global operations and replaced its single-use plastic in Europe and India.
Oceana said Amazon disclosed part of its global plastic packaging footprint for 2021 and 2022 but did not report its plastic use at the country level or for all transactions, such as those fulfilled by third-party sellers.
Oceana’s senior VP for strategic initiatives, Matt Littlejohn, said the company’s failure to reduce plastic in the US is “troubling”.
“The company has dramatically reduced plastic packaging in other major markets including India and Europe,” Littlejohn said “Why are US customers being left behind?
“It’s time for Amazon to step up and commit to a global plastic packaging reduction everywhere it operates – including in the US.”
In response to the report, Amazon VP of mechatronics and sustainable packaging Pat Lindner said Oceana released a “misleading report” that contains “exaggerated and inaccurate information about our plastic packaging”.
“In 2022, we used 85,916 metric tons of single-use plastic across our global operations network to ship orders to customers – an 11.6pc overall yearly decrease, continuing to avoid tens of thousands of metric tons of new plastic each year in North America alone,” Lindner said.
“We’ve also started a multi-year effort to eliminate plastic delivery packaging from our US automated fulfillment centers, with the first already in operation and delivering to customers without any plastic packaging.”
Oceana estimates that up to 22m pounds of Amazon’s global plastic packaging waste from 2022 will end up in the world’s waterways and seas – based on plastic waste pollution data from a peer-reviewed study.
The non-profit also warned that plastic pollution has a “devastating” impact on the world’s oceans, as the plastic film contained in Amazon’s plastic packaging is deadly to large marine animals.
“As one of the biggest retailers on the planet, Amazon is increasingly defining how our goods are packaged,” Littlejohn said. “The company can solve its plastic problem on a global basis now and into the future if it commits to do so – and follows through.”
Amazon has had mixed results for its more environmentally-conscious messaging in recent years. Last year, the tech giant quietly removed its ‘Shipment Zero’ initiative, in which the company pledged to make half of its shipments carbon neutral by 2030.
In 2020, there were reports that Amazon issued warnings to at least two employees who publicly criticised the company’s environmental policies.
Updated 4 April 2024, 16.41pm: This article was updated to include a comment from Amazon about the Oceana report.
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