Tell Amazon: Ditch single-use plastics
Over the past year, Amazon’s plastic pollution has spiked by almost a third.
Half a billion pounds of plastic waste.
According to a new report, Amazon produced more than a half billion pounds of plastic waste last year.1 We can’t let the convenience of two-day shipping pollute our planet for centuries.
To protect our planet, we need to call on Amazon to ditch single-use plastics in its packaging.
Piles of air pillows, bubble wrap, and plastic-lined envelopes.
Following a spike in sales last year, the scale of Amazon’s apparent plastic footprint ballooned from enormous to truly staggering.
According to a recent report, Amazon’s plastic waste increased by a third in 2020. You’ve seen this waste — the air pillows, bubble wrap and plastic-lined paper envelopes — much of which is designed to be thrown away. The non-profit estimates that more than 23.5 million pounds of this plastic will likely end up polluting our planet’s waterways. That’s equivalent to dumping a delivery van-load of plastic into the ocean every 67 minutes.2
Amazon disputes these numbers and says they’re inflated. But Amazon won’t provide its own estimate of how much of its plastic ends up in the ocean.
In the past, Amazon has made pledges to augment its recycling program, but you and I know this solution is like putting a band-aid over a bullet hole. For starters, only 9% of the world’s plastic waste ever gets recycled. On top of that, much of the single-use plastics that the company uses are made from plastic film, a type of plastic that is typically not accepted by municipal recycling programs in the United States. The company suggests customers can drop these plastics off at alternative facilities for recycling. But according to Oceana, 2 out of 5 of those recommended sites also say they won’t accept plastic film.3
Take action to tell Amazon to stop using so much plastic.
We can’t recycle our way out of Amazon’s plastics. The answer is clear: Amazon should stop using so much plastic.
We know Amazon can change its ways because it’s already doing it — just not in the United States. In India, the company eliminated its single-use plastic packaging following pressure from the government, and Amazon has also announced that it will reduce its plastic footprint in Germany.4
We’re working to pass legislation that would make companies responsible for their own plastic pollution — but in the meantime, we’re calling on Amazon to take the initiative and do the right thing.
A former manager at Amazon has said that the company will take action to reduce its plastic waste problem only if the majority of its customers demanded it.5 That’s where you come in.
Will you join us in calling on Amazon to cut its plastic pollution?
- Karen McVeigh, “Amazon’s plastic waste soars by a third during pandemic, Oceana report finds,” The Guardian, December 15, 2021.
- Karen McVeigh, “Amazon’s plastic waste soars by a third during pandemic, Oceana report finds,” The Guardian, December 15, 2021.
- Karen McVeigh, “Amazon’s plastic waste soars by a third during pandemic, Oceana report finds,” The Guardian, December 15, 2021.
- Karen McVeigh, “Amazon’s plastic waste soars by a third during pandemic, Oceana report finds,” The Guardian, December 15, 2021.
- Karen McVeigh, “Amazon’s plastic waste soars by a third during pandemic, Oceana report finds,” The Guardian, December 15, 2021.