Amazon: Over 200,000 tons of plastic waste discharged annually: Oceana report
-Oceana, an international marine conservation organization-
Online shopping Amazon:
Amazon produced over 210,000 tonnes of plastic packaging in 2019.
Oceana has put together a “report that Amazon estimates that about 10,000 tonnes have flowed into the oceans and rivers.”
The Amazon side argues that the content is inaccurate.
Sustainability:
According to the report, most of the plastic waste from Amazon deliveries is cushioned materials such as air cushions and bubble sheets.
Oceana Estimate:
Amazon shipped about 7 billion packages in 2019 alone.
If you connect the used air cushion, it will be long enough to wind the earth 500 times.
Oceana points out that as Amazon expands its global business, so does its plastic footprint.
Forbes JAPAN
https://forbesjapan.com/articles/detail/39036/1/1/1
Opting Out: Amazon shoppers would choose plastic-free packaging if they had a choice
If convenience is what you value most in a shopping experience, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better outlet than Amazon.
With millions of products, fresh groceries, and same-day delivery right to your doorstep,
it’s no wonder that Amazon has become the world’s largest online retailer, delivering 7 billion packages last year alone.
That is roughly one package for every person on the planet – but unfortunately, many of these deliveries come with a side of plastic.
According to a new Oceana report based on available industry data and the company’s market share by country,
Amazon generated an estimated 465 million pounds (211 million kilograms) of plastic packaging in 2019.
Imagine, for a moment, that all of that trash took the form of inflatable “air pillows,” which are increasingly replacing bubble wrap.
It would create a plastic trail long enough to circle the Earth 500 times.
The company disputes these and other figures but has not yet provided Oceana with alternative data or specific estimates – by country – detailing the plastic footprint generated by Amazon and its marketplace vendors.
In the meantime, Amazon customers
are left pondering, ‘What will happen to all of this plastic packaging left behind?’
Essentially none of those plastic bags, bubble-lined mailers, or air pillows are recycled – at least not in any practical sense.
Most curbside recycling programs don’t accept this kind of plastic and, worse yet, if it’s mistakenly placed in a recycling bin it could contaminate other types of plastic waste that otherwise would have been recycled.
Oceana