Amazon India has reduced packaging waste by 36%, says company's top executive

One of the heavy users of single-use plastic, the annual e-commerce plastic packaging consumption globally is estimated to reach 4.5 billion pounds by 2025, as per Statista. Amazon India, on the other hand, has been working towards eliminating this since 2020 and has managed to reduce its overall packaging waste (including single-use plastic) by 36 per cent.

With the Government of India’s ban on single-use plastic being put into action starting today, Abhinav Singh, Director – Customer Fulfilment, Supply Chain and Global Specialty Fulfilment, Amazon India, in an exclusive interaction with Business Today, talks about the initiatives undertaken by Amazon India to eliminate single-use plastic and more.

 

BT: What are the initiatives undertaken by Amazon India to reduce single-use plastic?

AS: We have continued to build on our efforts to completely eliminate single-use plastics from the Amazon India Fulfilment network since June 2020. The first milestone towards this goal was achieved in December 2019 when we replaced plastic packaging material, such as bubble wraps and air pillows, with ‘paper cushion’ in our packaging. We then introduced 100 per cent plastic-free and biodegradable paper tapes, which are used to seal and secure customer shipments. Additionally, we have replaced thin cling films for customer deliveries among other materials with packaging options that are not single-use plastic in nature. All other plastic packaging material originating from the Amazon Fulfilment Centers is 100 per cent recyclable through the available collection, segregation, and recycling channels. We continue to educate sellers, who directly fulfil customer orders, to join in this directional change in packaging.

We have carried out several pilots in India to develop innovative single-use plastic-free solutions, to gauge the in-transit strength of our packaging. In this direction, we have also collaborated with manufacturers to design sustainable packaging innovations to minimise waste in packaging. This has enabled us to make significant steps towards our sustainability goals without impacting the customer experience or product safety.

We have taken several steps in this direction, for instance, we have minimized packaging waste across our supply chain by expanding on our India-first initiative, Packaging Free Shipment, it ensures that fulfilment centers either deliver products that are completely packaging-free or have significantly reduced packaging across cities in India, among several other initiatives.

We have since shipped hundreds of thousands of packaging-free orders in more than 100 cities including Bengaluru, Mumbai, New Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Nagpur and Hyderabad. While we continue to scale these initiatives, we are also working on order consolidation systems to reduce packaging wherever possible. In fact, our newest delivery feature, Amazon Day, makes it easier to get purchases grouped and delivered together, resulting in the reduction of carbon emissions.

However, these are early days and we have a lot to do. Every effort we take is a step towards positive transformation, not only for the company but for society at large. We truly believe that progress is made when we put together our energies behind our daily commitments and pledge our allegiance to the betterment of society.  There is a long way to go, and it is still Day One.

 

BT: What amount of single-use plastic have you eliminated from your operations including your supply chain to date?

AS: At Amazon India, we are aggressively working towards building innovative and sustainable packaging solutions which will help us minimize waste. We have been working with several brands to provide e-commerce friendly packaging to further reduce the use of secondary packaging. The expansion of Packaging Free Shipment to 100 cities within a year is a testament to our commitment towards sustainability. We continue to expand this initiative while ensuring safe and secure deliveries of customer orders.

 

BT: What are your future plans for the same?

AS: As part of our commitment to reach net-zero carbon by 2040 through The Climate Pledge, we will continue on our path to power our operations with 100 per cent renewable energy by investing in and deploying new utility-scale and on-site renewable energy projects across our operations. We are committed to leveraging our size and scale to make a difference. The goals, commitments, investments, and programs build on Amazon’s long-term commitment to sustainability through existing innovative programs, including Shipment Zero – Amazon’s vision to make all shipments net-zero carbon, with 50 per cent net zero carbon by 2030; sustainable packaging initiatives like Frustration-Free Packaging and Ship in Own Container, which have reduced packaging waste by 36 per cent; renewable energy programs; investments in the circular economy with the Closed Loop Fund; and numerous other initiatives happening every day and led by teams across Amazon.
 

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