{"id":5247,"date":"2023-05-23T10:26:27","date_gmt":"2023-05-23T17:26:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/california\/?post_type=article&p=5247"},"modified":"2023-05-23T10:26:27","modified_gmt":"2023-05-23T17:26:27","slug":"does-amazon-recyclable-plastic-packaging-actually-get-recycled-well-maybe-not","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/dev.pirg-test.com\/california\/articles\/does-amazon-recyclable-plastic-packaging-actually-get-recycled-well-maybe-not\/","title":{"rendered":"Does Amazon “recyclable” plastic packaging actually get recycled? Well…maybe not."},"featured_media":47830,"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":[226],"region_tax":[],"state":[7],"topic_tax":[145],"class_list":["post-5247","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":[7],"act_option":false,"display_option":false,"primary":{"topic":null}},"featured_image":47830,"caption_override":"","excerpt":"Research conducted by CALPIRG volunteers points to yet another reason Amazon should move away from plastic packaging ","updated_on":null,"sidebar_action":[4588],"hide_hero_image":false,"sidebar_action_query_string":""},"helper_people_group":{"title":"Authors","entities":[{"type":"dynamic","dynamic_person":{"site":9,"people":"3752"},"information":{"name":"","image":null,"role":"","biography":"","contact":{"twitter":"","facebook":"","email":"","phone":""}}}]},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":"","component_wysiwyg":{"content":"It seems like every time I order something online, I\u2019m confronted with a pile of packaging- envelopes, bubble wrap, Amazon air pillows.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nWhen it comes to the sustainability of that packaging, some companies are clearly better than others. I\u2019ve ordered wine packaged in recyclable compressed cardboard and hair products packaged in a box surrounded by recyclable brown paper. But I\u2019ve also ordered a pillow that came wrapped in yards of plastic bubble wrap (because it was\u2026 breakable??), and a small cosmetic item in a big box filled with plastic air pillows.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nNow multiply my purchases by all the online customers in the country, and imagine the plastic.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nAmazon generated <\/span>600 million pounds<\/span><\/a> of plastic waste nationally in 2020 alone, according to a report by the ocean conservancy group Oceana.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n

Where does all that plastic go?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h4>\r\nIt\u2019s not a happy story.\u00a0 79% of the plastic we use (and generally use only briefly) ends up either in landfills or loose in the environment. 12% of plastic gets incinerated, producing pollutants which are bad for public health and our climate.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nOnly <\/span>9% of plastic ever produced has been recycled.<\/span><\/a>\r\n\r\nAmazon claims on their <\/span>website <\/span><\/a>that many of their packaging items are widely recyclable, either through curbside recycling programs or store drop-off. I was curious how effective the plastic recycling of Amazon packaging items actually is, so a group of volunteers and I investigated.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nWhen I receive a package from Amazon, it\u2019s either in a cardboard box (potentially wrapped in air pillows, which pop satisfyingly under your heel but then leave\u2026 just a piece of plastic), a paper mailing envelope, or a plastic mailing envelope. All of these items come labeled with a chasing arrows recycling symbol and the website <\/span>how2recycle.info<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 The website helps you further interpret the variations in the labeling.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nThe cardboard box and paper mailer (shown below on the left) have a chasing arrows symbol with nothing inside, which indicates the product is widely recyclable and can be placed in most curbside bins. That makes sense to me; I know cardboard and paper are recyclable.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n\"\"\r\n\r\nThe plastic mailing envelope (which Amazon calls their \u201cbubble-lined plastic bag,\u201d shown above in the middle and right) and air pillows have the same chasing arrows symbol, but on this packaging the symbol is not empty; it\u00a0 surrounds the phrase \u201cstore drop-off.\u201d This slight difference in the image is supposed to convey that yes, the product is recyclable, but it cannot be placed in your curbside bin.\u00a0 Instead, you should go online to look up the closest store drop-off that accepts plastic bags. When you visit how2recycle.info to find that convenient store drop-off location, you are redirected to <\/span>bagandfilmrecycling.org<\/span><\/a> where you plug in your zip code to find the closest drop-off. In <\/span>my area<\/span><\/a>, that means my local Target, Sprouts, Kohls or Vons. The site suggests that you call the store you are going to visit to confirm that they are still participating in the program.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n

Does the store drop off system work?<\/h4>\r\nWe wanted to learn more about the store drop-off process, so we started calling stores. Do they really accept Amazon packaging? What do they do with the plastic? Does it really get recycled?<\/span>\r\n\r\nWe called stores listed on the <\/span>bagandfilmrecycling.org<\/span><\/a> website in 49 different zip codes in California. We found that 20 of the 33 stores we talked to said they do not accept Amazon plastic bubble-lined bags.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n\"\"To find out whether this information was correct, we went to see for ourselves. Our volunteers went to Targets, Sprouts, and other stores across the Los Angeles area. Every store listed on the bagandfilmrecycling.org site indeed had a bin for plastic bags, which the website indicates are also good for recycling Amazon packaging. The one at my local Sprouts said \u201cRecycle Plastic Bags Here.\u201d<\/span>\r\n\r\nSo, the people answering the phones at the stores seemed ill-informed, which doesn\u2019t serve Amazon customers very well and makes it more likely that plastic ends up in landfills.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nBut the story gets worse.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nOur next question was, where does the deposited plastic go?\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nTo find that out, CALPIRG volunteers put small electronic tracking devices into Amazon bubble-lined plastic bags or air pillows\u00a0 (which are marked with the How2Recycle label for Store Drop Off), removed shipping labels, wrapped each bundle in plastic grocery bags to prevent the tracking device from falling out, and dropped them in different plastic recycling drop bins across the Los Angeles area, in sites all recommended by how2recycle.info. Here\u2019s where those mailers ended up<\/a><\/span>:\u00a0<\/span>\r\n