Author: Jerri-Lynn Scofield, he has served as a securities lawyer and derivatives trader.She is currently writing a book about textile craftsmen.

Most readers of Naked Capitalism may not need another reason to hate Amazon.

From poor labor relations to environmental impact, there must be a lot of objections

I will address one aspect of the last problem in this article: Amazon’s use of plastic packaging. According to a new report by Oceana, a marine conservation organization, the company’s use of plastic packaging will increase sharply in 2020. Exposure: Amazon’s huge and rapidly growing plastic pollution problem,From Oceania press release:

Amazon produced estimates Last year, 599 million pounds of plastic packaging waste were generated It stems from the billions of packages delivered by the company during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a 29% increase from Oceana’s 2019 estimate. Oceana also found that, according to data from a peer-reviewed study on plastic waste pollution published in Science in 2020, up to 23.5 million pounds of this plastic waste enters the world’s waterways and oceans. This is equivalent to dumping the plastic payload of a delivery truck into the ocean every 67 minutes.

“Our report found that when the ocean needs corporate leaders like Amazon to stand up and make meaningful commitments to reduce the use of single-use plastics, Amazon’s plastic packaging pollution problem is growing at an alarming rate. Amazon has proven that it can work in India. This can be done in large markets such as Germany. It now needs to be committed globally,” said Matt Littlejohn, Senior Vice President of Strategic Planning at Oceana.

Plastic is the main source of pollution and is destroying the world’s oceans.Research estimates that, for species, 55% of seabirds, 70% of marine mammals, and 100% of sea turtles have been ingested or entangled with plastic, and it has been found that plastic film is one of the most lethal forms of plastic to marine life. Science The report estimates that only 9% of all plastics produced in history have been recycled [citations omitted].

I understand now. We all hate Amazon, but no one wants to catch COVID-19. So I understand why people turn to order from the evil empire instead of going to old-fashioned physical stores or looking for non-Amazon e-commerce alternatives. The widespread surrender to Amazon is reflected in its sales data, which soared by nearly 40% in 2020 to $386 billion.

Next time you are going to use Amazon, please keep the following packaging details in mind (I realize they reflect all global e-commerce, not just Amazon, but given Amazon’s dominance in e-commerce, they are a useful agent. )

To be sure, Amazon is simple and convenient, but is there really no other choice?

I know from first-hand experience that other companies have eliminated most of the plastic packaging. Wick, It makes high-quality glass jars that I use widely to ferment and preserve food. It relies on crushed cardboard and double-layer packaging instead of plastic foam packaging and other forms of plastic packaging. In the past year, I ordered from Weck many times and everything arrived safely.

In the war against plastics, Amazon may become a leader rather than a laggard. On the contrary, it reportedly reacted sadly to Oceana’s report. protector:

Amazon, the largest retailer in the Western world, refused to accept Oceana’s data and said it overestimated plastic waste by 300%. It also questioned the model used to estimate the percentage of possible entry into the sea. It did not provide alternative numbers.

This is ridiculous. Even if the number is reduced to the number required by the company, this is still a lot of plastic. Oceana has asked Amazon to provide figures for the plastic it produces, but the company has not condescended to comply. According to the Oceana press release:

Oceana has asked Amazon to provide data on its plastic footprint, but Amazon has so far refused to provide it. Amazon disputed Oceana’s estimates last year. It is estimated that the amount of plastic packaging waste generated by Amazon will now circle the earth more than 600 times in the form of air pillows.

Amazon claims to promote recycling as a viable response to the waste it generates. However, when Oceana examined the content of these recycling efforts more closely, it found that Amazon’s moving belief in recycling fairies was particularly ineffective. According to the Oceana press release:

Amazon claims that recycling can help solve its plastic packaging pollution problem, but Oceana’s report found that this is not the case.Amazon plastic packaging belongs to ‘plastic film’ – A material Extremely difficult to recycle, not accepted by most roadside recycling programs In the United Kingdom, the United States and Amazon’s other large markets. In most cases, it is landfilled, incinerated, or pollutes the environment, including the ocean.

In order to solve this problem, Amazon uses it to guide customers who want to recycle packaging to a store at a designated drop-off location. Second chance website. Oceana sent secret shoppers to 186 stores in 25 cities in the United Kingdom and the United States. More than 40% of the interviewed store representatives told the secret shoppers that they would not accept their Amazon plastic packaging, and more than 80% of the interviewed stores Of managers don’t know that Amazon customers are being directed to their store.

Oceana also conducted a survey of 1,400 Amazon Prime customers in the same 25 cities, and found widespread confusion and concerns:

• 39% said they put Amazon plastic in municipal recycling bins, while 35.5% said they put packaging in the trash can-which means that three-quarters of respondents’ Amazon plastic packaging ends up in landfill Site, incinerator or environment.
• 91% said that Amazon should reduce the use of plastic packaging.
• 94.8% of people worry about the impact of plastic pollution on the ocean.

Touting recycling will not solve the world’s terrible plastic waste problem. First, it shifts the responsibility from the source of the problem-the people who produce and use plastic packaging-to the consumer. Unsurprisingly, most plastics will not be recycled-about 9% of the total produced. Some solutions!

Instead, Oceana called on Amazon:

Eliminate plastic packaging, increase the number of products transported in reusable containers, and adopt policies that significantly reduce plastic pollution instead of talking about “recyclability.”

Alas, I think it is extremely unlikely that Amazon will take action on this issue anytime soon. Jeff Bezos seems to be preoccupied with chasing his space dream. Instead, some form of government action is needed to get the company to solve the problem. According to the Guardian:

Rachel Johnson Greer, a former Amazon project manager who has worked for Amazon for eight years, said that if the government or Most customers Request it.

In terms of plastic packaging, India has always been a leader and forced Amazon to stop using single-use plastic packaging. The packaging agreement adopted by Amazon in India-which does not have single-use plastics, but relies on recyclable and reusable packaging-can be easily promoted globally-this step can prevent the large amount of plastics currently used by Amazon from entering the waste stream . According to the Guardian:

After Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his central government pledged to ban the use of single-use plastics by 2022, Oceana highlighted the retailer’s actions in India to eliminate single-use plastic packaging by using paper-based alternatives. The ban was postponed, but the court ruled that the packaging was the responsibility of the manufacturer, importer and brand owner.

Amazon also announced that it will stay away from German disposable plastic packaging.

“If the company can do this in India and Germany, they can get rid of single-use plastic packaging on a global scale,” Littlejohn said.

Where’s Jeff? Can 2022 be the year when Amazon says no to plastic packaging?