Online retail giant Amazon has announced that it wants to reduce the plastic it uses in packaging and delivery.

Amazon to reduce plastic usage

On Monday, Amazon’s head office in Germany announced that it would be significantly reducing the use of plastic in packaging and delivery. Going forward, the online retailer will replace all single-use plastic packaging with paper bags and larger items will be shipped in cardboard boxes.

Amazon’s plastic purge will also apply to items that are sold via a third party. As such, any items bought on Amazon’s platform from third-party sellers that are delivered in plastic packaging will remain in the original packaging and be relabelled for onward delivery.

The international company did concede that it will not completely cut out plastic from its packaging and will still use bubble wrap to protect fragile items such as glassware.

Environmentalists versus Amazon

Amazon has long been targeted by environmentalists, who have accused the company of producing too much plastic waste and contributing to the pollution of the world’s oceans through its overreliance on plastic packaging. Accordingly, a 2020 report by the Oceana group found that, in 2019, 11.000 tonnes of plastic Amazon packaging had entered the world’s oceans and waterways.

Amazon has also come under fire for its use of delivery vans, which environmentalists point out cause pollution in city centres. Just a few months ago, the company came under further scrutiny after it was revealed that it shredded brand new items that had been returned by customers.