Amazon to stop using single-use plastic for deliveries in 2022

Amazon has pledged to stop using single-use plastic bags for deliveries in 2022 as a means of reducing its environmental impact.

Amazon Spain has announced that from January 1, 2022, it will stop using single-use plastic bags to package products that are sent from its own national distribution network.

Customers will receive orders in flexible paper bags and cardboard envelopes, which are, according to the company, “easier to recycle” in the Spanish recycling system. They also contain more recycled material and make it possible to reduce the volume of packages.

The new decision will affect both items sold directly by Amazon and those from other companies that use Amazon’s logistical services.

For orders of larger volumes, the company will continue using cardboard boxes. In parallel, Amazon is also favouring the selection of products that can be sent in their original packaging, which only need a label with the customer’s address and no additional packaging.

The new measure is the latest in a series of initiatives that Amazon has implemented in order to become more sustainable. In 2008, the company launched the Frustration-Free Packaging programme, which offers customers packaging that is easy to open and 100% recyclable. Since then, the programme has continued to evolve and grow.

Amazon has explained that thanks to this programme, since 2015 they have reduced the weight of packaging by 36% on average per order and have eliminated a million tonnes of packaging materials, which would be equivalent to around 2,000 million packages.

Amazon hopes to use 100% renewable energy in all its operations by 2025 and has so far delivered more than 20 million packages in electric vehicles throughout North America and Europe.

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