Oceana released a new report “The Cost of Amazon’s Plastic Denial on the World’s Oceans” revealing that Amazon, the largest retailer in the world, generated an estimated 709 million pounds of plastic packaging waste last year, stemming from billions of packages purchased through the company’s e-commerce website.
This is an 18 percent increase over Oceana’s 2020 estimate of 599 million pounds and enough plastic to circle the Earth more than 800 times in the form of air pillows. Oceana found, based on data from a peer-reviewed study on plastic waste pollution published in Science in 2020, that up to 26 million pounds of this plastic waste will end up in the world’s waterways and seas. The type of plastic used by Amazon – plastic film – can be damaging to marine life.
“The science is clear, the type of plastic used by Amazon for its packaging is a threat to the oceans. Customers and shareholders are calling for the company to act. It’s time for Amazon to, as it has on climate, step up and commit to a global reduction in its use of plastic packaging,” said Matt Littlejohn, Oceana’s senior vice president for strategic initiatives.
Amazon refuses to outline a plan and commit to a company-wide reduction in plastic use. At its annual general meeting in May 2022, nearly 49 percent of Amazon’s shares – totaling 181 million shares – voted in favor of a resolution asking the company to address its growing plastic packaging problem. This is the most support that a shareholder-led resolution has received in Amazon’s history. At least 53 shareholding companies declared (publicly or to investors) their intention to vote in favor of the resolution, including the world’s largest asset manager, Blackrock.
Despite Amazon’s commitment to transparency for its other sustainability efforts (such as its climate initiative), the company has not been transparent about its global plastic packaging footprint. On December 13, 2022, Amazon released a blog which stated, “[i]n 2021, we reduced average plastic packaging weight per shipment by over 7 percent, resulting in 97,222 metric tons [just over 214 million pounds] of single-use plastic being used across our global operations network to ship orders to customers.”
Oceana acknowledges this step towards increased transparency. The reported figure, however, represents only part of the company’s global plastic packaging footprint. In contrast to Oceana’s estimate, Amazon’s disclosure excludes orders made on Amazon’s e-commerce platforms that are fulfilled through third-party sellers and it is unclear how much of Amazon’s total sales this represents. When Oceana inquired, Amazon declined to disclose this information.
While Amazon claims to have reduced average plastic packaging weight per shipment by over 7 percent in 2021, it has not disclosed by how much its global plastic packaging footprint grew from 2020 to 2021. Amazon’s sales are reported to have grown by 22 percent in this time period. As sales increase, the company’s plastic footprint grows too. Oceana estimated a plastic footprint growth of 18 percent, accounting for the plastic reduction measures Amazon has taken in some countries (such as India).
