According to Amazon, plastic air pillows are no longer used in its warehouses. In a blog post on October 9, the e-commerce behemoth stated, "As of October 2024, we've removed all plastic air pillows from our delivery packaging used at our global fulfillment centers." After years of pressure from environmental organizations to prevent plastic garbage from entering the water, this is a good shift. In its packaging, the corporation is still trying to use fewer single-use plastics overall.
In a statement following Amazon's announcement, Matt Littlejohn, senior vice president of strategic projects at the NGO Oceana, stated, "It is great news for the world's oceans that the largest e-commerce company in the world has made plastic air pillows history globally." According to Oceana, plastic film, the substance that goes into those once-commonplace air pillows, is the most common form of plastic waste found close to beaches. For huge mammals like whales and dolphins that might consume it, that film is also the "deadliest" kind of plastic pollution, according to Oceana.
Amazon’s announcement comes after it pledged in June to get rid of plastic air pillows in North America by the end of the year. The company swapped out plastic air pillows and single-use delivery bags for paper and cardboard alternatives in Europe in 2022. It also ditched plastic film packaging at its facilities in India in 2020.
The US is Amazon’s largest market, and the company hasn’t managed to fully eliminate plastic packaging in North America just yet. It says it plans to reduce the amount of deliveries containing “Amazon-added plastic delivery packaging” in North America to just one-third of shipments by December, down from two-thirds in December 2023.
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