Amazon advocates collective action to reduce packaging waste

Keeping with the Global Recycling Day, observed on 18 March to create awareness among the masses about the rapid pace at which our natural resources are being used, Amazon India launched a campaign on 3 March, inviting customers to take a pledge to reduce packaging waste by reusing packaging boxes. Through the #PledgeToReuse campaign, the company also called for collective action by encouraging customers to take the pledge to adopt sustainable practices into everyday life, and share their creative DIY ideas to reuse boxes.

20 Mar 2021 | By WhatPackaging? Team

The campaign was launched on Amazon India’s social media channels

This campaign urged customers to explore the multipurpose benefits of an Amazon delivery box by repurposing it in creative ways, rather than discarding it as waste. The campaign was launched on Amazon India’s social media channels and drove high levels of engagement from customers across the country.

Prakash Kumar Dutta, vice-president, fulfilment centre and supply chain operations, Amazon India, said, “Our customers are becoming increasingly environmentally conscious and the response we have received from the #PledgeToReuse campaign is a testament to this. Sustainability is a top priority for us and we continue to minimise the environmental impact of our operations with several innovations. We continue to move towards sustainable practices and firmly believe that this is not only good for the planet but also positively impacts our customers and the business.”

The campaign also builds on the company’s continued efforts to reduce packaging waste across its operations network. In June 2020, it announced that it had achieved a significant milestone in its efforts towards sustainability by eliminating all single-use plastic packaging originating from its 60+ fulfilment centres in India.

In September 2019, the company had pledged to meet this goal in an accelerated timeframe by June 2020, in an effort to build an environmentally sustainable supply chain. In the same month, the company announced that it had expanded its India-first initiative, Packaging-Free Shipping (PFS) to over 100 cities, and now more than 40% of Amazon customer orders shipped from Amazon India’s fulfilment centres are now either packaging-free or have significantly reduced packaging.

The company has also been collecting and recycling plastic waste equivalent to its usage at a national level from September 2019 and has identified collection agencies to help collect equivalent 100% plastic waste generated from usage across the Amazon fulfilment network.

At Amazon India, all packaging boxes are packaging made of 100% recycled content and are fully recyclable.