Amazon has announced that is scrapping its single-use plastic delivery bags within its own distribution network for paper ones.

The change will affect orders shipped from Amazon’s Fulfilment Centres in UK.

The move is the latest in a line of measures that the company has instilled to optimise packaging for the products customers order most often, which Amazon said have resulted in it removing the equivalent of two billion shipping boxes in packaging material globally since 2015.

READ MORE: Amazon plans to deliver 500 million packages a year via drones

Amazon has said that the recyclable paper delivery bags and envelopes were more easily recyclable in household recycling across the UK, are made with more recycled content, and reduce volume compared to deliveries made in corrugated cardboard boxes.

“We have made changes in our supply network that enable us to remove single-use plastic delivery bags in the UK,” Amazon UK country manager John Boumphrey said.

“Customers are already receiving more deliveries in easily recyclable paper and cardboard, and we will keep innovating and finding ways to use more sustainable packaging.”

Amazon also said that it had made a number of investments in order to improve the sustainability of its packaging.

This included developing the right-sized packages to match the size of products, which used less material overall and increase the amount of recycled content that goes into making its packaging.

The ecommerce giant reduced the weight of outbound packaging per shipment by over 36% since 2015, eliminating over a million tonnes of packaging material. This works out to the equivalent of two billion shipping boxes.

The move comes as part of a strategy to reduce the company’s carbon emissions as part of its Climate Pledge strategy, whereby it aims to set a net zero mission target for 2040, 10 years earlier than most national targets.

As part of its decarbonisation efforts, Amazon said it is on a path to reaching 100 per cent renewable energy across its operations by 2025 and has ordered more than 100,000 electric delivery vehicles, with thousands already making deliveries to customers in Europe.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Sign up to our daily newsletter to get all the latest retail tech news and insights direct to your inbox.

UK: Four Cavendish Square, Marylebone, London, W1G 0PG

© 2022 Copyright Charged. All rights reserved. Alphanet Web Design Agency