Oceana takes aim at Amazon Plastic Waste

The ubiquitous use of plastic in our modern world and inadequate management of plastic waste has led to increased contamination of freshwater, estuary and marine environments. Scientists now believe that microplastics are consumed by marine life and can cause cellular necrosis, inflammation and lacerations in the digestive tracts of fish. Additionally, microplastics can pick up and accumulate chemical contaminants on their surfaces. This mixture of plastic and chemicals can accumulate in animals that eat them causing liver toxicity and disruption in the endocrine system

Plastic is to be found littering beaches and landscapes and clogging our waste streams and landfills, the exponential growth of plastics is now threatening the survival of our planet. Our oceans and seas are the largest sink of persistent plastic waste, an estimated 80% of the microplastics pollution in the oceans comes from the land. Stopping this pollution is essential. According to Oceana, the largest international advocacy organizationfocused solely on ocean conservation, during the pandemic plastic packaging waste exploded; and they are taking aim at Amazon. 

open report

On December 15, 2021 Oceana released their report that estimates Amazon delivered packages generated 599 million pounds of plastic packaging waste in 2020.  Wow. Oceana states that this is a 29% increase over 2019. They also found, based on data from a peer-reviewed study on plastic waste pollution published in Science in 2020, that up to 23.5 million pounds of this plastic waste found its way into the world’s waterways and seas.

They state in their press release: “Our report found that Amazon’s plastic packaging pollution problem is growing at a frightening rate at a time when the oceans need corporate leaders like Amazon to step up and meaningfully commit to reducing their use of single-use plastic. Amazon has shown it can do this in large markets like India and Germany. It now needs to commit to do so worldwide,” according to Matt Littlejohn, Oceana’s Senior Vice President for Strategic Initiatives.

Oceana found that Amazon’s recycling promises and claims do not always add up and do not reduce the company’s very large plastic packaging waste footprint. The type of plastic packaging used by Amazon – plastic film – is not accepted by municipal recycling programs in this region or most areas in the United States. In 2018 scientists estimated that over 9 billion metric tons of virgin plastics have been produced since the dawn of the age of plastics and found that only around 9% of plastic has been recycled, 12% was incinerated, and 79% was accumulated in landfills or the natural environment. The amount of plastic waste keeps growing.

We care because plastic pollution is devastating the world’s oceans. Sea birds, marine mammals, and sea turtles have ingested or become entangled in plastic and according to Oceana plastic film is one of the deadliest forms of plastic for marine life.  The biggest challenge to solving the plastic pollution problem is human behavior, both corporate and individual.

We need to make changes. Start with your own behavior and reduce your consumption of plastic today. Also, begin advocating for corporations like Amazon to change their behavior. Oceana is trying to push both regulators and Amazon to make big changes.

According to the Oceana report, Amazon plans to eliminate single use plastic packaging in Germany and has eliminated single-use plastic packaging in India by turning to returnable and reusable packaging in that market. I know this is inconvenient, but this is planetary survival. Oceana wants Amazon to expand the plastic-free approach in worldwide. If we do nothing, much of the world will be knee deep in plastic in a generation. We must reduce plastic waste. We can’t just lay the problem at Amazon’s feet we all must partner in this effort. Here are the 5 things you can do to reduce plastic waste:

• Eliminate single-use plastic- water bottles, straws, disposal plates. However, think what you substitute. A steel water bottle needs to be used 500 times for its carbon footprint to shrink below the carbon footprint of a single use PET plastic bottle. A permanent plastic bottle is a better substitute.
• Reduce the Packaging you buy. By buying large containers and avoiding single serve containers. Use bar soap instead of a pump bottle. When you order items online pay attention to how it’s packaged.
• Buy your Products in concentrated form. Buy your detergents and soaps in concentrated form, less packaging and less weight to ship. You can dilute it at home.
• Do not buy any products with mixed material packaging. These materials cannot be recycled. These include the food pouches especially popular in baby food and bags used for chips, pretzels and the like. Also, avoid using those black plastic food containers which are not easily sorted by the infrared sorting lights in recycling plants and are often simply trashed.
• Finally, consider consuming less packaged food, and fewer plastic items. Yet, though I hesitated, I still bought a plastic sleeve for my vaccination card that came wrapped in plastic film. I need to do better, too.