Amazon Plastic Use Increases by 3% in 2023, Oceana Calls on Company to Make a Time Bound Commitment to Plastic Reduction
Company affirms it will eliminate all plastic air pillows in North America by end of 2024, discloses that US and Canada account for 94% of plastic use
Press Release Date: July 12, 2024
Location: Washington, DC
Contact:
Gillian Spolarich | email: gspolarich@oceana.org
202-467-1909
This week, Amazon, in its annual sustainability report, disclosed that its “total plastic packaging increased 3% from 86,055 metric tons in 2022 to 88,698 metric tons in 2023 due to [its] business growth.” The company reported in February that its net sales, globally, had increased by 12% from 2022 to 2023. Despite this increase in plastic packaging in 2023, Amazon confirmed in its report that it is phasing out plastic air pillows in delivery packaging in North America by the end of 2024. The company stated that this will avoid 15 billion air pillows annually. Over 94% (83,513 metric tons) of the company’s global plastic packaging use in 2023 came from just the United States and Canada.
In response to the news of Amazon’s increased use of plastic packaging in 2023, Oceana released the following statement from Matt Littlejohn, Oceana’s Senior Vice President of Strategic Initiatives:
“The reported increase in plastic packaging used by Amazon from 2022 to 2023 is bad news for the oceans. Plastic pollution, including the type of plastic used in Amazon’s packaging, is devastating the world’s oceans. Amazon’s plastic packaging is made from the most common form of marine plastic litter in nearshore ocean areas — plastic film — which is also the deadliest type of plastic to large marine animals.
While the company has made real progress in reducing plastic packaging with its recent announcement that it is phasing out plastic air pillows in North America by the end of the year and other efforts not yet reflected in the number, the company needs urgently to do more. Oceana calls on Amazon to make a time-bound, company-wide commitment to reduce the total amount of plastic packaging it uses by at least one-third by 2030.”