{"id":4598,"date":"2023-06-06T09:00:25","date_gmt":"2023-06-06T16:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/california\/?post_type=article&#038;p=4598"},"modified":"2025-10-01T17:27:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T00:27:13","slug":"its-prime-time-for-amazon-to-reduce-its-plastic-shipping-waste","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/california\/articles\/its-prime-time-for-amazon-to-reduce-its-plastic-shipping-waste\/","title":{"rendered":"Too much plastic: Why Amazon\u2019s packaging needs to change"},"featured_media":45527,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":false,"_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-description":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-description":""},"campaign_tax":[170],"display_option":[],"issue_tax":[],"person_tax":[],"region_tax":[],"state":[2],"topic_tax":[145],"class_list":["post-4598","article","type-article","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"details":{"helper_taxonomies":{"topics":[145],"collection":false,"press_type":false,"person_type":false,"resource_type":false,"event_type":false,"campaigns":170,"department":false,"level":false,"states":[2],"act_option":false,"display_option":false,"primary":{"topic":145}},"featured_image":45527,"caption_override":"","excerpt":"Amazon generates enough plastic waste to wrap the Earth 80 times over. But the company could become part of the solution to the plastic waste problem.","updated_on":"20251001","sidebar_action":[4588],"hide_hero_image":false,"sidebar_action_query_string":""},"helper_people_group":{"title":"Authors","entities":null},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_wysiwyg":{"content":"If you\u2019ve ever wondered how many packages Amazon delivers, you were right: It\u2019s a lot. Like <a href=\"https:\/\/depts.washington.edu\/sctlctr\/news-events\/in-the-news\/how-many-amazon-packages-get-delivered-each-year#:~:text=In%202021%20the%20company%20shipped,the%20Earth%20to%20the%20Moon.\">7.7 billion packages<\/a> shipped in 2021 alone. That\u2019s 21 million a day.\r\n\r\nAnd if you\u2019ve ever received a package from Amazon \u2014 and let\u2019s face it, who hasn\u2019t? \u2014 you also may have wondered: Do they have to use so much plastic? And what happens to all of that plastic film, air pillows, bubble wrap and other plastic stuff?\r\n\r\nThe answers are: No. And: It\u2019s not pretty.\r\n<h3><strong>A planet wrapped in plastic<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nAccording to one <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/policy\/energy-environment\/3775185-amazons-plastic-waste-increased-by-18-percent-in-2021\/\">estimate,<\/a> in 2021, Amazon generated over 700 million pounds of plastic waste. With that amount of plastic, you could wrap the Earth in plastic air pillows 800 times over.\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s not hard to see how this adds up. Say you run out of a household item, perhaps disinfectant wipes, so you order more on Amazon. The wipes come in plastic cylinders. Yet the two-pack you order also comes wrapped in a thin gray plastic film. And the two-pack wrapped in film comes encased in more plastic packaging.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Multiply that by the millions of Amazon deliveries happening across the planet every day, and by the end of a year, you get those 700 million pounds.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n<h3><strong>The problems with plastic<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nThe biggest problem with plastic, of course, is also its chief selling point: It\u2019s so durable that it lasts forever \u2014 or pretty darn close to forever, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.science.org\/doi\/10.1126\/sciadv.1700782\">degrading ever-so-slowly<\/a> (depending on its location and exposure to sunlight) into microplastics.\r\n\r\nA small amount of the billions of tons of plastic generated since roughly 1950 gets <a href=\"https:\/\/www.science.org\/doi\/10.1126\/sciadv.1700782\">recycled<\/a>. A slightly larger amount is <a href=\"https:\/\/factor.niehs.nih.gov\/2022\/8\/science-highlights\/burning-plastic\">incinerated<\/a> (which is worrisome, given the chemicals released into the air).\r\n\r\nThe rest is supposed to go to, and stay in, landfills. But it doesn\u2019t work out that way. Instead, researchers keep finding plastic <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/environment\/2020\/nov\/20\/microplastic-pollution-found-near-summit-of-mount-everest\">everywhere<\/a> in the environment -- from the deepest point in the ocean to the highest point on Earth.\r\n\r\nThey also keep <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC8579821\/\">finding<\/a> it in animals, including seabirds, marine mammals and sea turtles. If you\u2019re not a big wildlife lover, I\u2019m afraid that I have bad news for you: Researchers also are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/04\/20\/opinion\/microplastics-health-environment.html\">detecting<\/a> plastic\u00a0in our lungs, our blood and even the breast milk of nursing moms.\r\n\r\nThe experts are still sorting out the health and environmental effects of all of this plastic. They know that it\u2019s harming and sometimes even killing wildlife. As they study what it might be doing to us, we could take our chances and hope that what\u2019s happening to wildlife isn\u2019t happening to us. Or, we could do the smarter thing, and stop producing, consuming and disposing of so much plastic, starting with the plastic we don\u2019t really need.\r\n<div>\r\n<h3><strong>What Amazon can do to reduce plastic waste<\/strong><\/h3>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Amazon is America\u2019s largest online retailer, which means that it\u2019s a big part of the plastic problem. But it also has the resources and tools required to reduce and then eliminate single-use plastic packaging from its business model. <\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are, after all, more easily recyclable and biodegradable alternatives to single-use plastic packaging. That\u2019s probably why Amazon has committed to cut single-use plastic packaging in Germany and India. <\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why not here in the U.S.?<\/span>\r\n<h3><strong>Ask Amazon to reduce single-use plastic packaging<\/strong><\/h3>\r\nWe\u2019re asking Amazon to reduce and phase out single-use plastic packaging in its deliveries. We hope you will join us by signing our <a href=\"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/take-action\/tell-amazon-its-time-to-move-beyond-wasteful-single-use-plastic-packaging\/\">petition<\/a>.\r\n\r\nRest assured that the action of concerned citizens can make a difference. It\u2019s the key reason why<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u00a0today <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/resources\/trash-in-america-2\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">1 in every 3 Americans<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> lives in a state with a robust ban of at least one type of single-use plastic.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Major corporations are also coming around, in part due to consumer demand. In February 2022, Coca-Cola (the world\u2019s top plastic polluter, by one estimate) announced a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/media-center\/statement-consumer-environmental-advocates-welcome-coca-colas-commitment-to-reuse\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">commitment<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to use refillable or returnable glass or plastic bottles for at least 25% of global beverage sales across its entire brand portfolio by 2030. That\u2019s an important step in the right direction.<\/span>\r\n\r\nAs for Amazon, it can\u2019t solve the plastic waste problem all by itself. Yet each <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">time a major company commits to eliminating its plastic waste, it paves the way for another to follow suit. <\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And in each of these actions, all of us \u2014 corporations, governments and individuals \u2014 can reduce the amount of plastic waste<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> we\u2019re generating so we can enjoy the cleaner air, parks, streets, beaches and waters that result.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<b>Please join us in urging Amazon to reduce and phase out wasteful single-use plastic packaging.<\/b>\r\n\r\nThank you.","":null}}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Too much plastic: Why Amazon\u2019s packaging needs to change<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Amazon generates enough plastic waste to wrap the Earth 80 times over. 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