Amazon's Ditching the Plastic Air Pillows In Its Boxes 68
Amazon aims to completely remove plastic air pillows from its packaging in North America by year-end. Going forward, they will be replaced with paper fillers made from 100% recycled content. CNBC reports: It marks Amazon's largest plastic-packaging reduction effort and will help it remove nearly 15 billion plastic pillows annually. "We are working towards full removal in North America by end of year and will continue to innovate, test, and scale in order to prioritize curbside recyclable materials," VP of Mechatronics and Sustainable Packaging Pat Lindner said in the announcement.
"Innovate" (Score:3)
I don't think copying others is "innovation". Yes golf clap for your effort Amazon, but don't pretend you're some kind of industry leader here using innovation to drive some kind of previously unachievable eco friendly packaging.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
> They're also not making their drivers pee in bottles to keep up with unreasonable quotas but that's a different topic of conversation....
Maybe if they had route optimization there would be time to take a pee?
Re: (Score:2)
Maybe if they had route optimization there would be time to take a pee?
If they became more efficient, staff numbers would be cut.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, this drives me nuts. I love the convenience of Amazon, but it's just bonkers that they haven't figured out how to consolidate a shipment yet. I understand that the logistics of that would be an absolute nightmare, but I'm perfectly happy waiting an extra day for most things. Hell, even if I just build up my cart until it's a reasonable "shopping trip" the shit still shows up in 8 different boxes delivered by 3 different people.
I used to care about this, and try to consolidate my orders, that I realized that Amazon truck is coming down my street 5 times a day, no matter what I do. So now I just order what I want, when I want. It is still probably better than me driving across town to pick up the same thing at Walmart. (Realistically those are my 2 choices, unless I want to drive for half an hour or more.)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Well, I do that as well, but I've still had the "deliver everything on the same day" end up being 3 different deliveries by different drivers.
That said, they usually manage to get it all done in one go, so I'd just have the 3 deliveries, which was fairly unusual, to being a SNAFU at the warehouse. Maybe the truck ended up full, maybe a package was misplaced, maybe a delivery to the warehouse was late so they had to run another truck to get them out by the promised delivery date, etc...
Re: (Score:2)
Re:"Innovate" (Score:4, Interesting)
Yeah, this drives me nuts. I love the convenience of Amazon, but it's just bonkers that they haven't figured out how to consolidate a shipment yet. I understand that the logistics of that would be an absolute nightmare, but I'm perfectly happy waiting an extra day for most things. Hell, even if I just build up my cart until it's a reasonable "shopping trip" the shit still shows up in 8 different boxes delivered by 3 different people.
Is the problem that Amazon doesn't know how to consolidate deliveries or that customers don't want consolidated deliveries, i.e., they don't care or want each item ASAP? On my orders, I see that Amazon offers consolidated deliveries with an Amazon Day Delivery with the enticement of extra cash on an Amazon credit card. The option is there. I select it because I am swayed by the extra cents in credit card rewards, but it seems like Amazon is trying to do the right thing. They offer a choice. If they imposed delayed deliveries in the name of consolidation, they would lose business (i.e., the opposite of their multi-billion dollar push to shorten delivery times).
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, this drives me nuts. I love the convenience of Amazon, but it's just bonkers that they haven't figured out how to consolidate a shipment yet. I understand that the logistics of that would be an absolute nightmare, but I'm perfectly happy waiting an extra day for most things. Hell, even if I just build up my cart until it's a reasonable "shopping trip" the shit still shows up in 8 different boxes delivered by 3 different people.
Is the problem that Amazon doesn't know how to consolidate deliveries or that customers don't want consolidated deliveries, i.e., they don't care or want each item ASAP? On my orders, I see that Amazon offers consolidated deliveries with an Amazon Day Delivery with the enticement of extra cash on an Amazon credit card. The option is there. I select it because I am swayed by the extra cents in credit card rewards, but it seems like Amazon is trying to do the right thing. They offer a choice. If they imposed delayed deliveries in the name of consolidation, they would lose business (i.e., the opposite of their multi-billion dollar push to shorten delivery times).
This. Exactly.
I order a lot of stuff on Amazon, and believe me, they do several things to steer Customers into Consolidating Shipments. Options for "Fewer trips", where Shipments that contain more than one Item that have fairly close, but not equal, Arrival Dates, can be scheduled to arrive on the same day, to choosing an "Amazon Day", (a trap I frankly refuse to fall-for), where shipments are brutally held until "Your Day" arrives that week (or next week), to Stating the Arrival Dates (and sometimes even a
Re: (Score:2)
The fact that I can order something stupidly small, say a pack of batteries, and have it arrive via fossil fuel powered delivery van within 24 hours seems far more impactful than the tiny bit of plastic in an air pillow.
Disposable batteries aren't really the best thing for the environment regardless of how they arrive at your doorstep.
Re: (Score:2)
He didn't say they were a pack of disposable batteries. They could have been a pack of 18650s, rechargeable AAs, etc... Or what I got recently: A set of 10 year lithium 9V. Which is kind of stretching the definition of "disposable" since they should last the lifetime of the product I'm sticking them into. And something with a 10 year expected lifetime isn't really "disposable" either.
Re: (Score:2)
Packaging is the least of their problems. The fact that I can order something stupidly small, say a pack of batteries, and have it arrive via fossil fuel powered delivery van within 24 hours seems far more impactful than the tiny bit of plastic in an air pillow. Previously you'd have waited until your next trip to the store to buy something that small/trivial, so probably still burning fossil fuels (unless you live somewhere actually walk/bike-able; good luck in America!) but at least there were other items being obtained at the same time.
Er ... your small item is packed efficiently in a truck with all the many items people in your neighborhood are getting. Amazon has every incentive to route all this stuff efficiently.
It's almost certainly more efficient per item than you driving to different stores all over town getting different stuff.
Re: (Score:2)
It's almost certainly more efficient per item than you driving to different stores all over town getting different stuff.
Maybe. But if all you want are a few items you can probably find them in one or two stores, two stores which are next to each other. Also, it takes at least a day for your Amazon order to arrive. So rather than getting what you need in an hour or two, you have to wait 24 hours. You also have to hope it's the correct item. Also have to hope the package isn't stolen from your door.
Going
Re: (Score:2)
1. Consider the fuel use of a delivery van, that may be an EV, making lots of stops all down a road vs you driving your car all the way to the store and back.
2. Consider overall time costs: Shopping is "active" time, waiting for an amazon delivery is "inactive". IE I can only have one active task going at a time, inactive I'm unlimited. Painting is active, paint drying is inactive.
Unless it's critical, I can just switch to another task. I always try to keep the common batteries in stock at my house.
Re: (Score:2)
It's almost certainly more efficient per item than you driving to different stores all over town getting different stuff.
Maybe. But if all you want are a few items you can probably find them in one or two stores, two stores which are next to each other. Also, it takes at least a day for your Amazon order to arrive. So rather than getting what you need in an hour or two, you have to wait 24 hours. You also have to hope it's the correct item. Also have to hope the package isn't stolen from your door.
Going to a store is still better. You know what you're getting and it gets done faster.
Sometimes, and for some people.
I ordered something just yesterday from Amazon. Placed Order at 3:30pm. It was in my hands before 6 pm.
Plus, I am partially handicapped, and for me, "going to the store" (and nevermind multiple stores!) is a fucking Ordeal! So, try to remember Horses for Courses, willya?
All things considered, for me at least, Thank Bob for Amazon!
Re: (Score:2)
Packaging is the least of their problems. The fact that I can order something stupidly small, say a pack of batteries, and have it arrive via fossil fuel powered delivery van within 24 hours seems far more impactful than the tiny bit of plastic in an air pillow. Previously you'd have waited until your next trip to the store to buy something that small/trivial, so probably still burning fossil fuels (unless you live somewhere actually walk/bike-able; good luck in America!) but at least there were other items being obtained at the same time.
Er ... your small item is packed efficiently in a truck with all the many items people in your neighborhood are getting. Amazon has every incentive to route all this stuff efficiently.
It's almost certainly more efficient per item than you driving to different stores all over town getting different stuff.
And they do!
You can see Amazon's Delivery Routing in Action with their Live Tracking, which is Available when your Delivery is within 10 Stops. They are quite proficient and efficient at sorting Deliveries to minimize total trip-length. By contrast, if you have signed up for UPS' Enhanced Tracking stuff, their Routing is the very definition of "Drunkard's Walk"!
Re: "Innovate" (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Around here I see Amazon deliveries coming via Ryder rental trucks. How does that work? Amazon sub contracts to some shady company that doesn't even own a truck?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Packaging is the least of their problems.
That would be why they chose that particular subject for the press release.
Re: (Score:2)
Hasn't been the case in Germany for several years - here Amazon uses electric vans (Mercedes eSprinter) for delivery and air pillows have been replaced with crumpled paper. They also tend to consolidate their deliveries and even suggest a specific delivery day that is the most efficient in this regard.
Re: (Score:2)
Yes and no. When I order something from Amazon I almost always have an EV dropping it off.
When I order a battery that EV seemingly makes multiple stops in the street.
Yeah they come twice a day, but that's twice to three times a day sometimes, but that is providing for the entire street. Consolidation could be a bit better, but it's actually not as inefficient as you may think.
Re: (Score:2)
You can opt to have stuff delivered to an Amazon locker instead. Ideally there would be more of them so that more people could just walk to their nearest one. Even better would be if the lockers were shared and multiple companies could send packages to a single local delivery depot.
Well, having half decent physical shops would be nice too, but I think that ship has sailed in the UK, and probably many other places.
Re: (Score:2)
Sounds a lot like a mailbox.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
Other innovations include envelopes for the small items and products already packaged so that they can survive bouncing and crushing and such, and don't put a second box on it.
More box sizes involve either having a machine that can run custom boxes off easily and efficiently, or stocking more boxes - and them going for the lots of air box might be them running out of the smaller size.
Hm... Maybe a box that is easier to "Resize" to better fix the contents? I've had some rather exact boxes lately.
Honestly,
Re: (Score:1)
What I've been getting lately is a single item that has been bouncing around inside a box ten times the size of the individually packaged item. Is the "innovation" an experiment to see how many items they can break? How about innovating by using different size boxes for different sized products?
Liar.
99% of the time (seriously), Amazon uses Padded Envelopes for light, non-fragile, Items. No "bouncing around".
When they do ship in box, Amazon seems to have at its disposal an almost infinite selection of box shapes and sizes in which to efficiently pack one or more Items.
It has been a long time since I have received an Amazon Shipment with some tiny Item, swimming in an Auditorium-Sized Box; and even then, never just "bouncing around". That stands in stark comparison with, say, Walmart; who once Shipp
Re: (Score:2)
And 99% of the time, those padded envelopes are plastic. Still waiting for them to suddenly realize that paper envelopes have been around for centuries, and padded paper envelopes for decades at least.
Re: (Score:2)
And 99% of the time, those padded envelopes are plastic. Still waiting for them to suddenly realize that paper envelopes have been around for centuries, and padded paper envelopes for decades at least.
Wrong Yet Again!
I Order stuff from Amazon pretty much Daily (Handicapped, remember?), and for about the past 6 Months, "Envelope" Deliveries are in "Recycled-Content" Padded Paper Envelopes. I'd say it averages about 90% Paper and 10% Plastic. Maybe just a little less; but in no way less than 75-80% Paper.
Seriously.
Force internalization of disposal costs. (Score:5, Interesting)
I wish the US would pass a law internalizing the costs of packaging to the company.
The German Model (Packaging Law), bascially says packaging is property of the provider, and anything not glass or paper must be returnable to place of purchase/receipt for disposal. E.g. Packaging returnable to store; store can return packaging to shipper that provided; can return to company that sold and shipped; etc.
"If you put commercial packaging into circulation or manufacture it, you are obliged to have it returned and dispose of it properly. The regulations therefore even apply to small online retailers who use sales and/or transport packaging to ship the goods sold."
Net result at the impending garbage return avalanche -- businesses banded together and set up the foundations of a packaging return system. Consumers are given yellow bags (some number per year per household) Anything with the Green Dot mark (company paid in) goes into the bag for collection once a month. Companies (manufacurters, shippers, importers, etc) buy into the centralized system to manage their packaging disposal obligations -- charge is based on recyclability, difficulty to separate, whether it's mechanically separable, vs must be sorted by hand, and volume entering the market.
Packaging went from plastic to creative use of folded and shredded cardboard very quickly. Plastic windows and screens were removed, or replaced with cellophane; plastic labels on plastic bottles became more easily separable (a scored tear strip); single and multi-use glass bottles increased in use;
Re: (Score:2)
That sounds good an all, but in practice it's had very little impact and the majority of packaging waste still ends up in the various municipal bins, especially Amazon's cardboard.
East Palestine, Ohio (Score:2)
Damn it; I huff those. At least when they come from overseas - where else are you gonna get a lungful of fresh Chinese air??
East Palestine, Ohio, is a pretty close approximation.
Re: (Score:2)
I reused those (Score:2)
Good news for bubble wrap sales at UPS and USPS though.
Re: (Score:2)
Damn, I reused those when shipping things to others.
The air pillows Amazon used were pretty flimsy and prone to springing leaks even on their initial trip. If I'm selling something on eBay or Swappa, I don't wanna get dinged and have to issue a refund because my packing material deflated and the item got damaged.
I'll reuse bubble wrap and that crinkle paper stuff, but Amazon's air pillows go right into the trash.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
After accumulating a giant box of them for such occasional re-use, I stopped trying to save more. I ship things out far, far less frequently than I receive. Flick open a knife, slice them to let the air out, and into the trash they go. (Plastic film is not recyclable in my area.)
Paper or Plastic... (Score:4, Insightful)
Here we go again.
The grocery industry has gone through must-use-Paper/must-us-Plastic time and time again, offering choice during the transitional phase. Right now, most stores are giving me paper bags here in New England. Plastic will return sometime.
See, there's not enough paper, and not enough plastic, to make it work all on their own. Therefore, the cycle continues...
Re: (Score:2)
Here we go again.
The grocery industry has gone through must-use-Paper/must-us-Plastic time and time again, offering choice during the transitional phase. Right now, most stores are giving me paper bags here in New England. Plastic will return sometime.
See, there's not enough paper, and not enough plastic, to make it work all on their own. Therefore, the cycle continues...
Huh?
In the 60's and 70's, all that was available was paper. Not because there was some agenda, but because plastic bags were rare and expensive.
By the 80's and for the three decades after, all that was available was plastic, because they were cheap and frankly more convenient than paper in almost every way.
Now there's an agenda: stop being wasteful. Sure, sure, some - or even many - people re-use plastic bags once. But an awful lot don't. Paper is easily recycled, making it a better choice even if t
Re: (Score:3)
Paper is easily recycled, making it a better choice even if the resulting bag is worse.
You've obviously never been near a paper mill. And one of the few kinds of industrial plants worse for the environment than a paper mill is a paper recycling plant.
Re: (Score:2)
As opposed to consuming oil to make plastic bags that just end up as landfill because they can't be recycled?
Paper is easily recycled, and if it can't be, it's easily biodegradable where it can be incorporated into new plant materials, making it renewable. Plastic comes from oil and generally doesn't degrade very well or very fast and is definite
Re: (Score:2)
The thing here IMO is that the overall environmental impact of anything, including packaging or bags isn't as clear-cut or intuitive as it might seem.
It might seem that reusing a thicker plastic bag is better than having single-use ones but, but they have to be significantly thicker and in my experience fail anyway after a few times.
Same with paper. Sure we can grow more trees and recycle paper, but both takes resources with non-zero impact so it's not an automatic win, and you'd need to use the bags a coup
Re: (Score:2)
You've obviously never been near an oil/gas refinery, or a plastics manufacturing facility.
Re: (Score:2)
Worldwide, you're in the minority with that experience. Plastic rules almost entirely in the UK, for instance.
Paper has problems that plastic does not and - especially with food and liquids - plastic is hermetically sealable, which is the singlest best contributor to food preservation that there is. You "can do it" with paper, but it almost always involves coating with plastic (e.g. Tetrapak).
Plastic does not rot, seep, tear, degrade in a shelf lifespan. It's used for food for a reason - and in doing so
Re: (Score:2)
Here we go again.
The grocery industry has gone through must-use-Paper/must-us-Plastic time and time again, offering choice during the transitional phase. Right now, most stores are giving me paper bags here in New England. Plastic will return sometime.
See, there's not enough paper, and not enough plastic, to make it work all on their own. Therefore, the cycle continues...
Most of the world never bothered with paper bags. We've moved onto reusable bags (arguably, if you're old enough you can say we've moved back to reusable bags), In the UK I've had the same set of bags for about 6 years, I can get a free replacement bag when they break as 6 years seems to be the avg life span. They're plastic, but big, heavy duty bags made from recyclable polymers. They hold way more than a flimsy single use bag so I can move my shopping from the car to the kitchen in one trip (yes, I am a o
Beware of term 100% recycled (Score:1)
This can mean for example: 100% made of 10% post-consumer-recycled material.
And yes, this level of evil exists, just like in food labelling.
So we have to ask, is it better to make stuff out of (often old-growth wild ecosystem) trees instead of plastic?
Things that make you go hmmm.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Good. I hated those things (Score:2)
Awkward to dispose of.
I've only gotten paper "padding" for a year+ (Score:3)
Thing is, it's just flat paper and they don't even wad it up - it's basically just folded once or twice, and sits on top of the inner box(es). All it seems to accomplish is wasting paper.
Fortunately the actual product makers do a better job of packing their own stuff, so Amazon's lack of padding doesn't cause problems too often.
Re: (Score:2)
Amazon warehouse workers generally do not know HOW to properly pack a shipping box. Nor does Newegg.
Yet many Amazon drivers I have encountered seem to be wannabe MLB pitchers or NFL quarterbacks. The arms on some of them to toss packages great distances across yards!
Re: (Score:2)
Thing is, it's just flat paper and they don't even wad it up - it's basically just folded once or twice, and sits on top of the inner box(es). All it seems to accomplish is wasting paper.
Fortunately the actual product makers do a better job of packing their own stuff, so Amazon's lack of padding doesn't cause problems too often.
Nope, it actually does a good job of padding. I regularly get heavy things like 24 pack cans of drink delivered and never had anything damaged even when the box looks a bit worse for wear.
Here's a picture (ignoring the article, the Mirror is tabloid shite) [mirror.co.uk]
The packaging is easier to get rid of than the box, as I don't even have to cut it up to fit it in the recycling bin. Much easier than disposing of the old air filled plastic which had to be individually stabbed, deflated and then went in the landfi
Re: (Score:2)
I really like expanded paper packaging [google.com]. (Also called honeycomb, hexcell, versa-wrap) The very act of pulling it off the roll "fluffs" it up; it conforms to irregularly-shaped objects well.
Darn! (Score:2)
Popping those was a great way to get swatted when my neighbors call in "shots fired".
LOL, now this is what will happen (Score:1)
Please bring back plastic packaging (Score:2)
No plastic packaging has resulted in people taking heads off toys; https://www.tfw2005.com/boards... [tfw2005.com]
Next step: optimizing the packaging for returns (Score:1)
Reducing paper use (Score:2)
Is so yesterday.