To all of you who have protested Amazon packaging,
Today we’re claiming victory in getting Amazon to reduce its packaging waste!
Amazon has just announced publicly, for the first time, that it has begun shipping some orders without added packaging and that customers will have a choice at checkout for orders to “ship in their own container”.
The Amazon Initiative has applied consistent pressure on Amazon - a full-page letter to CEO Jeff Bezos in the SF Chronicle, an Amazon to Reuse Boxes Petition, a 14-month campaign of bi-monthly letters sent via Fedex to Amazon’s senior executives, and direct contact with Amazon’s Public Policy Group in Sacramento - increasing awareness around the issue of massive e-commerce packaging waste and environmental degradation.
Ten cities of Marin County endorsed the Amazon Initiative and petitioned the Amazon Board of Directors to reduce packaging waste to help cities achieve their zero waste goals.
Twelve thousand Marin residents signed the Amazon to Reuse Boxes petition asking for a packaging reuse program in Marin County.
The five largest employers in Marin, including Marin Community College and the Marin Health District, the Marin Board of Supervisors, Representative Jared Huffman, all Marin environmental groups, and the Sierra Club Zero Waste, Bay Chapter, have endorsed the Amazon Initiative.
The Amazon Initiative has collected data on the millions of tons of e-commerce packaging going to landfills and re-manufacturing mills, and the hazardous waste and green house gas emissions generated, and has had the findings verified by statisticians. This has documented the magnitude of the problem and its urgency.
The good news that allows us to declare victory is that Amazon stated publicly in the 8/18/23 issue of the WSJ that it will reduce packaging by incentivizing suppliers to strengthen their containers and skip the added Amazon packaging.
Amazon acknowledges that “The recognition by a number of senior leaders was that this [issue of packaging waste] is becoming more and more important.”
The Amazon Initiative now claims victory - if only a partial one - and reaffirms the power of grassroots movements.
This concludes the Amazon Initiative.
What we need to do now
1. Specify that no additional packaging be added to your Amazon order. If the option is not available, demand that it be made available or shop elsewhere. We’ve had the best results from emailing Amazon Investor Relations at amazon-ir@amazon.com, Attn: CEO Andy Jassy;
2. When completing an Amazon customer satisfaction survey, indicate that your customer satisfaction is POOR because of Amazon’s single-use packaging; and
3. Ask your congressional and senate leaders to seek national legislation that requires all interstate e-commerce packaging to be reusable.
Amazon says that eleven percent of orders are shipping without Amazon packaging now, yet Amazon’s forecasted e-commerce sales growth in 2023 is fourteen percent. This means that the net volume of packaging waste continues to escalate unabated.
Every e-commerce package that is discarded (trashed or recycled) warms the planet.
Be vigilant. Demand that Amazon, and other retailers, eliminate or reuse their e-commerce packaging.
Thank you for rallying behind the Amazon Initiative. Every one of you has made a difference.
Sincerely,
Carolyn Lund
Amazon Initiative
Sierra Club Zero Waste, SF Bay Chapter
carolynelund@yahoo.com
Read the news for yourself
https://www.wsj.com/articles/amazon-deliver-prime-speed-packaging-a616a135?reflink=share_mobilewebshare (WSJ subscription required)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/walterloeb/2023/08/14/amazon-plans-to-deliver-without-a-box/
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/amazon-wants-ship-orders-without-203352596.html?guccounter=1
Photo caption
"The Problem with Prime", installation artwork with 23 Kt gold-leafed Amazon packaging, vintage mailbox, and graphite drawing, by San Francisco artist Katherine B. Young, plasticoceanart.com