Eco-Friendly Shift: Amazon Eliminates Plastic Air Pillows for Sustainable Wrapping Options

This year’s Amazon Prime Day will be marked by a subtle-yet-substantial change in packaging. Instead of using plastic air pillows as packing filler, the company is opting for 100% recycled paper.

Amazon began testing recycled paper filler at an Ohio fulfillment center last year. The paper filler was found to offer the same protection as plastic air pillows. Use of paper filler also cleared up space in the Ohio fulfillment center and proved to be “easier to work with,” according to an employee quoted in Amazon’s press release .

There’s also an obvious environmental benefit to paper filler. Amazon expects to cut its use of air pillows by 95%, effectively removing 15 billion plastic air pillows from the supply chain. The new paper filler, which is 100% recycled, should have a reduced environmental even if it isn’t recycled by the customer. Of course, customers will also appreciate the fact that they don’t need to pop a bunch of air pillows every time they receive a large delivery.

I should note that Amazon’s “discoveries” aren’t really all that groundbreaking. Distributors already know that paper filler can offer the same protection as plastic air pillows. They also know that paper is less cumbersome for employees—instead of teaching a rotating cast of laborers how to use an air cushion machine, you can just tell them to stick some paper in a box (although employees still need to be taught how to use an appropriate amount of paper).

Air pillows are commonly used in packaging because they are the most economical “void fill” solution for large-scale distribution operations. Amazon hasn’t commented on the economic side of things, so we don’t know whether this transition is economically or environmentally motivated.

Personally, I hope that Amazon has found a way to make paper filler the more profitable packaging option. It would give other distributors a reason to follow suit.

This year’s Prime Day is scheduled for July 2024. An exact date for the shopping event has yet to be announced. You should notice the switch to paper filler during this year’s Prime Day, although the use of paper filling may vary between distribution centers.

Source: Amazon

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