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Oct 16, 2024

5 packaging stats from Amazon’s sustainability report | Packaging Dive

The e-commerce giant fell short of a 2023 device packaging recyclability target. Meanwhile, it’s almost entirely phased out plastic air pillows and mixed-material mailers in certain regions. Amazon

The e-commerce giant fell short of a 2023 device packaging recyclability target. Meanwhile, it’s almost entirely phased out plastic air pillows and mixed-material mailers in certain regions.

Amazon revealed an updated look at its packaging mix, sharing 2023 data in its latest sustainability report, released Wednesday. The report comes on the heels of Amazon’s announcement that it has largely phased out plastic air pillows in boxed shipments, a change it expects will be completed by year’s end.

In 2023, in addition to launching its first fiber-focused fulfillment center, Amazon reported it transitioned 13 fulfillment centers in the U.S. and Canada from plastic to paper for protective internal packaging material. Beyond that, Amazon says it’s pursuing R&D “to identify better paper alternatives for the rest of our packaging suite.”

The company highlighted its growing use of AI for applications like informing the best fit for orders with multiple items. It’s also leveraging it to help optimize the sizes and types of cardboard boxes it stocks at a particular facility based on a location’s unique order patterns.

Elsewhere in the business, the company has replaced single-use cardboard shipping containers with reusable outbound carts to better manage non-inventory waste.

Amazon also reported advancements in the grocery space. Subsidiary Whole Foods Market, which has faced calls from environmental groups to decrease plastic packaging, has implemented “daily variable insulation” in North America, a practice that Amazon said involves tracking and adjusting the amount of insulation material used for temperature-sensitive deliveries “to ensure it is used only when temperatures exceed a specific threshold.”

Here are five stats on Amazon’s packaging in 2023:

While paper or plastic unpadded or padded mailers dominated U.S. and Canada delivery packaging in 2023, 36% of shipments were in corrugated boxes and 13% shipped in their own product packaging.

Here’s how that stacks up against the Amazon fulfillment network more broadly:

The data Amazon offers covers the U.S., Canada, U.K., France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Sweden.

Amazon's own devices are the only focus area where the company has publicly shared a packaging-specific sustainability target. The company sought to make Amazon device packaging 100% recyclable by 2023. In 2022, it achieved that for 79% of product launches. In 2023, that figure rose to 90% but still missed its target.

Television packaging is one example of an ongoing sticking point, the company said.

“We have made significant progress, but we have not yet created recyclable packaging for heavier items, such as Fire TVs. The box for Fire TVs is recyclable, but we still include foam cushioning and bags to protect the device when it is shipped, and these are not yet recyclable,” Amazon said in the report.

The company said it “remains committed” to the recyclability goal, including for adequately protective packaging for these heavier items.

In recent years, Amazon has been working to identify more products that can ship directly in their original product packaging, forgoing any additional packaging from Amazon. Globally, 12% of packages were shipped as part of the Ships in Product Packaging program, inching up from 11% in 2022. That figure was slightly higher when looking only at the U.S. and Canada: 13% in 2023.

Nearly 12 million products are eligible for the program, per the 2023 data. The company reported it has worked to ship “some of the most complex products without additional packaging,” like TVs and glassware. “We are able to then use those learnings and apply them to less complex products that may need only small adjustments to qualify for the Ships in Product Packaging program.”

Amazon added, “As we set new standards required to qualify for the program, we’re also able to identify and onboard products that do not need any adjustments.” In an interview last year, the company declined to share future targets for the program — not every product would be a fit for it — but one packaging lead said the company expected “a healthy growth rate” in excess of 13%.

Amazon reported that single-use plastic packaging weights per shipment across its global operations fell between 2022 and 2023. This lightweighting comes in part from prioritizing flexible paper bags and envelopes. Amazon also highlighted that it’s leveraging machine learning algorithms to help determine “the most efficient option for each order we fulfill.”

Mailers dominate deliveries in the U.S. and Canada, now accounting for more than half of delivery packaging in the region. While many padded and unpadded mailers are made of paper, some plastic and a small fraction of mixed-material ones are still in use. Amazon says mixed-material mailers that have been phased out have been replaced by recyclable paper alternatives.

In general, the European market remains ahead of the U.S. when it comes to recyclability for bags and envelopes, as well as other types of packaging. In 2023, all delivery packaging in the region from Amazon and third-party selling partners that used Fulfillment by Amazon were considered “household recyclable,” with 87 fulfillment centers having stopped using plastic packaging for deliveries.