They’re a familiar sight in Amazon packages: plastic air pillows designed to protect products in transit, but they also end up in landfills by the billions.
Now, thanks to pressure from environmentalists to cut down on the use of plastic packaging, the world's largest online retailer is moving closer to replacing all of its plastic pillows with recycled paper.
Amazon says the move will eliminate the use of about 15 billion air pillows each year in North America. The retail giant said in a news release Thursday that it is the Seattle-based retail giant's “largest plastic packaging reduction effort” to date.
It's one way companies are responding to public and environmental groups' outrage over retailers' use of plastic packaging, especially as online shopping continues to grow.
Ocean conservation group Oceana, which has long been at odds with Amazon over its use of plastic, described the move as “welcome news for the oceans and the company's customers.” But it called for further reductions in single-use packaging, such as the padded plastic envelopes that Amazon is still using.
The pillows are made of plastic film, which scientists have found to be the most common form of plastic litter on the ocean and seafloor near the coast. Plastic film can be deadly to wildlife, including sea turtles and seabirds. And unlike paper alternatives, plastic film typically cannot be composted or recycled in curbside programs.
A recent Oceana report found that protective packaging such as air pillows accounted for more than a third of global e-commerce packaging by weight.
Thursday's announcement covers the United States, Amazon's largest market, as well as Canada and Mexico, which account for more than 70 percent of the retailer's global sales. Amazon said it has already replaced about 95 percent of its plastic pillows with paper ones in these markets, and is working toward eliminating them completely by the end of the year.
Amazon says it has already phased out the use of plastic air pillows in Australia, as well as nearly all single-use-plastic packaging in India and across Europe. But these changes have come more slowly in the rest of the world. In 2022, Amazon reported using about 12 percent less plastic packaging worldwide than it did last year.
Environmental and consumer groups are working on several fronts to stem the flood of plastic packaging waste. Earlier this year, the groups pushed for a New York state bill that aims to reduce plastic packaging use by 50 percent over 12 years, under which manufacturers would have to either find more sustainable alternatives or pay a fee.
The bill, which would also ban some toxic chemicals currently used in packaging, such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, vinyl chloride and formaldehyde, passed the state Senate but has not been brought to a vote in the Assembly. California, Oregon, Maine and Colorado have also passed similar legislation.
Of course, this begs a tricky question: What happens to the extra paper Amazon uses?
Paper is recyclable and can biodegrade, which is better than plastic. Still, paper's climate impact can vary greatly depending on what's used in the pulp, according to a 2021 United Nations report that compared single-use plastics with other forms of packaging.
And if paper bags go to landfill, they can contribute to planet-warming methane pollution as they biodegrade. Paper, on the other hand, is actually more likely to be recycled. And if plastic bags are burned, they release toxic chemicals.
Amazon said it is moving forward on a multi-year effort to remove all plastic delivery packaging from its North American shipment centers. One center in Ohio has already done away with plastic completely, according to the company.
And some additional good news for shoppers? Amazon said its engineers tested how effective paper is at protecting products during transport and found that paper is just as good as plastic pillows, if not better.