Amazon has often been criticized – and rightfully so – for using too much plastic and thermocol to wrap its billions of package shipments, all leading to massive amounts of plastic waste ending up in landfills and leaking into the environment. But a recent move by the company’s Indian unit shows the e-commerce giant wants to do better.
The American firm announced on Monday that it has eliminated all single-use plastic in its packaging across its fulfillment centers in India, delivering on a pledge it made last year to achieve this goal by June.
In addition to replacing packaging materials such as bubble wraps and air pillows with “paper cushions”, the e-commerce group said that it had also swapped out packaging tapes with other bio-degradable options.
The commendable move follow’s Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s directive last year, when he called on citizens to help end the usage of single-use plastic by 2022.
Other companies in the industry are also ramping up their efforts to stem the overwhelming flow of plastic waste. Walmart’s India e-commerce unit Flipkart, a local rival to Amazon, has recently announced that its reliance on single-use plastic across its supply chain had dropped by 50 percent.
Given the key role that such giant companies play in solving the global environmental crisis of plastic pollution, let’s hope that the impact of their recent sustainability efforts will echo across the industry and encourage others to follow suit.
