Amazon packaging sustainability in 2026 and what it means for e-commerce packaging
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What Amazon packaging sustainability means now
Amazon packaging sustainability is no longer just a switch from a box to a lighter mailer. Based on Amazon’s 2025 Sustainability Report, published on July 1, 2026, the company is working across four main areas: avoiding extra packaging where possible, shifting from single-use plastic to paper-based formats, right-sizing packs with automation, and certifying more items to ship in their own product packaging.
The reported numbers are significant. Amazon says it has avoided 5.4 million metric tons of packaging in North America and Europe since 2015 and 224,000 metric tons of single-use plastic packaging globally since 2020. In 2025, 11% of global orders shipped without additional Amazon packaging, while North American shipments containing single-use plastic delivery packaging fell from 65% in 2023 to 27% in 2025.
For packaging teams, retailers, sellers, and sustainability readers, the useful question is not whether Amazon has solved packaging waste. It has not. The more practical question is what Amazon’s progress says about the direction of e-commerce packaging. For more coverage of packaging and circular economy topics, visit the Sustainability section.
The main shift is from packaging reduction to packaging avoidance
The strongest part of Amazon’s current packaging strategy is source reduction. In packaging, the lowest-waste option is often not a new material, but no added material at all. Amazon’s Ships in Product Packaging program is built around that principle. Instead of placing a retail box inside an Amazon box or envelope, eligible products are tested and certified to travel in the manufacturer’s own packaging with only a shipping label added.
Amazon says the program launched in 2020 and has now reached meaningful scale. By 2025, 7.9 billion packages across North America and Europe had used only the manufacturer’s packaging and an Amazon shipping label. In 2025 alone, Amazon reported 28 million unique products certified for the program in North America and Europe.
This matters because packaging avoidance reduces more than visible waste. It can cut corrugated board, void fill, tape, labels, warehouse handling, and vehicle space. Smaller and lighter parcels can also improve truck fill rates. The approach only works, however, when the manufacturer’s packaging is strong enough for parcel networks. A box that looks acceptable on a retail shelf may fail in e-commerce if it cannot withstand drops, vibration, compression, moisture, or automated sortation.
That is why the sustainability benefit depends on testing, not appearance. If insufficient packaging leads to damage and returns, the environmental savings can be reduced or even reversed. For brands, the lesson is direct: product packaging increasingly has to do two jobs at once. It must support merchandising on shelf or online, and it must survive direct-to-consumer logistics.
Amazon’s latest packaging data at a glance
The latest public data shows progress in several areas, but it also uses different geographies and measurement scopes. Some figures are global, while others apply only to North America, Europe, or Amazon fulfillment centers. That distinction matters for anyone interpreting the results.
| Metric or milestone | Reported figure | Scope and timing |
|---|---|---|
| Packaging material avoided | 5.4 million metric tons | North America and Europe since 2015 |
| Single-use plastic packaging avoided | 224,000 metric tons | Global total since 2020 |
| Orders shipped without additional Amazon packaging | 11% of global orders | 2025 |
| Packages shipped through Ships in Product Packaging | 7.9 billion packages | North America and Europe since 2020 |
| Unique products certified for Ships in Product Packaging | 28 million | North America and Europe in 2025 |
| North American shipments with single-use plastic delivery packaging | 65% in 2023, 37% in 2024, 27% in 2025 | North America |
| North American fulfillment centers not shipping plastic delivery packaging | 52% | 2025 |
| Plastic bags avoided through retrofitted machines | 288 million | North America in 2025 |
| Packaging recyclable in North American household waste streams | 73% | 2025, up from 63% in 2024 |
The direction is clear: Amazon is moving away from plastic air pillows, plastic bags, and oversized boxes toward paper-based, lighter, and more precisely sized packaging. The table also shows why a simple yes-or-no judgment is not enough. A percentage of recyclable packaging is not the same as a recycling rate. A reduction in Amazon-added plastic does not include every plastic component used by manufacturers, marketplace sellers, or upstream suppliers. A regional milestone does not automatically describe Amazon’s global network.
How paper-based packaging became central to the strategy
Amazon’s most visible packaging change has been the move away from plastic air pillows and toward paper filler and paper-based mailers. In June 2024, Amazon said it had replaced 95% of plastic air pillows in North American delivery packaging with paper filler and expected to avoid nearly 15 billion plastic air pillows annually. By October 2024, Amazon said it had removed all plastic air pillows from delivery packaging used at its global fulfillment centers.
The paper shift did not happen at the same pace in every market. Amazon reports that its European fulfillment network replaced single-use plastic delivery bags and air pillows with recyclable paper and cardboard packaging in 2022. In India, the company says it removed single-use thin-film plastic packaging originating from its fulfillment network beginning in 2020. In Japan, Amazon says it stopped packing most items from fulfillment centers in single-use plastic delivery bags, with exceptions for some services such as chilled or frozen products.
North America has been a major test case because it is Amazon’s largest and most closely watched market. In 2025, Amazon said 52% of North American fulfillment centers did not ship plastic delivery packaging. It also reported that the share of North American shipments containing single-use plastic delivery packaging fell to 27%, down from 65% in 2023.
Paper has practical advantages. It is familiar to consumers, often accepted in curbside recycling programs, and can be made from recycled content. Amazon describes its paper filler replacement for air pillows as made from 100% recycled content. But paper is not automatically impact-free. If too much paper is used, or if paper becomes wet, contaminated, or rejected by local systems, the sustainability benefit weakens. Material substitution helps, but packaging prevention and right-sizing remain more important.
Automation is changing the economics of sustainable packaging
One reason Amazon’s packaging program matters beyond Amazon is scale. A small sustainability improvement becomes meaningful when applied to billions of parcels. That scale depends on equipment, data, and repeatable decisions, which is why automation is central to the company’s packaging work.
Amazon says it has retrofitted automated packing machines that once produced plastic bags so they can now create made-to-fit paper bags. In North America, the company says these retrofits helped avoid 288 million plastic bags in 2025. Amazon also says its newer machine generation can pack larger products, increasing the number of products that can be packaged in paper bags by 20%.
Right-sizing is the second part of the automation story. Sensors and packaging decision systems can measure product dimensions and select a smaller format, reducing empty space, filler, and transport volume. Amazon says more than half of its North American and European shipments in 2025 were delivered in lightweight packaging such as bags or envelopes. It also says those flexible formats can be up to 90% lighter than comparable rigid cardboard boxes.
For packaging suppliers and sellers, the message is practical. Sustainable e-commerce packaging is becoming less about one universal box and more about a decision system. The right format depends on product fragility, dimensions, shipping route, weather exposure, privacy needs, damage risk, and local recyclability. Packaging that works for apparel may fail for liquids, glass, collectibles, electronics, or premium goods where outer-box condition matters to the buyer. See also: Box Design.
The unresolved issues behind the progress
Amazon’s reported progress is substantial, but several limitations remain. The first is transparency. Many of the largest figures are company-reported, and public summaries do not always provide enough detail to compare baselines, methods, regional boundaries, product categories, or third-party seller impacts. For example, a metric for Amazon-added delivery packaging does not necessarily include all manufacturer packaging or all packaging used across every transaction on Amazon’s marketplace.
The second issue is recyclability. Packaging described as recyclable may be technically recyclable but still not recycled in practice. Local collection rules vary widely. Some communities accept paper mailers curbside; others may reject mixed-material mailers, plastic films, labels, or contaminated paper. Plastic films are especially difficult because they are usually not accepted in curbside bins and often depend on store drop-off systems that are uneven and confusing for consumers.
The third issue is the paper-plastic trade-off. Plastic air pillows are lightweight, but they create persistent waste and are hard for many households to recycle. Paper is easier for many consumers to handle, but it can carry higher weight if used inefficiently. The better answer is not always paper replacing plastic one-for-one. It is less packaging, better fit, more reusable or recyclable design, and fewer damaged products.
The fourth issue is consumer experience. Some customers welcome less packaging. Others object when items arrive in visible manufacturer boxes, when gifts lose privacy, or when products arrive damaged. Sustainable packaging only scales if it balances waste reduction with protection, privacy, cost, and customer expectations.
Why criticism of Amazon’s plastic packaging still matters
Environmental group Oceana has been one of the most visible critics of Amazon’s plastic packaging. In April 2024, Oceana estimated that Amazon generated 208 million pounds of plastic packaging waste from all transactions in the United States in 2022, a 9.6% increase over its estimate for 2021. Oceana has argued that Amazon should make stronger, time-bound commitments to reduce plastic packaging and provide more detailed country-level disclosure.
Amazon has disputed some outside estimates and has emphasized its own reductions, including the removal of plastic air pillows, regional moves away from plastic delivery packaging, and reductions in the share of North American shipments containing single-use plastic delivery packaging. Both positions can be true at the same time: Amazon has made measurable progress, and stakeholders can still ask for clearer reporting on total plastic use, regional performance, third-party seller packaging, and actual end-of-life outcomes.
For the packaging industry, the debate is useful because it separates three different claims. Reducing plastic use is a material input claim. Increasing recyclable packaging is a design claim. Ensuring that material is actually recycled is a systems claim involving consumers, municipalities, recyclers, and markets for recovered material. Strong sustainability communication should not blur those categories.
Lessons for e-commerce brands and packaging suppliers
Amazon’s packaging direction points to several practical lessons for the wider e-commerce market.
- Design for direct shipping early. Brands should test whether primary packaging can survive parcel delivery before launch, not after damage complaints begin.
- Measure damage alongside material reduction. A lighter package is not sustainable if it increases returns, replacements, or discarded products.
- Use right-sizing as a system, not a slogan. Accurate product dimensions, machine-readable data, and flexible pack formats are needed to reduce void space at scale.
- Avoid vague recyclability claims. Packaging should be labeled in ways that match real collection options in the target market.
- Track both absolute and intensity metrics. Reporting only total material can hide efficiency gains, while reporting only per-shipment reductions can hide growth in absolute waste.
- Separate regional claims. A successful program in Europe, India, or North America should not be presented as global unless the same standard applies across markets.
The main takeaway is that sustainable packaging is operational, not cosmetic. It requires material science, fulfillment data, machine design, supplier participation, customer communication, and credible reporting. Amazon’s scale makes its packaging changes influential, but it also makes the remaining gaps more visible.
Frequently asked questions
Is Amazon packaging sustainable in 2026?
Amazon has made significant packaging sustainability progress, especially in reducing added packaging, removing plastic air pillows from fulfillment-center delivery packaging, and increasing paper-based and right-sized formats. However, it is more accurate to say Amazon is improving packaging sustainability than to say its packaging is fully sustainable. Remaining challenges include plastic still used in some shipments, regional differences, recycling infrastructure, and limited visibility into all marketplace and upstream packaging.
Does Amazon still use plastic packaging?
Yes. Amazon says the share of North American shipments containing single-use plastic delivery packaging fell to 27% in 2025, which means plastic delivery packaging has not disappeared. The company has removed plastic air pillows from delivery packaging used at global fulfillment centers, but other plastic formats and product-level packaging can still appear depending on item type, geography, service, and seller.
What is Ships in Product Packaging?
Ships in Product Packaging is Amazon’s program for products that can ship safely in their original manufacturer packaging without an additional Amazon box, envelope, or bag. The goal is to remove unnecessary delivery packaging while maintaining product protection. Amazon reports that 7.9 billion packages across North America and Europe have used this approach since the program launched in 2020.
Is paper packaging always better than plastic?
No. Paper is often easier for households to recycle and can reduce dependence on hard-to-recycle plastic films, but it is not automatically the better choice in every case. The better option depends on product protection, package weight, recycled content, actual recycling access, contamination risk, and whether the design prevents damage and returns.
Why do some Amazon orders arrive without an Amazon box?
Some products are certified to ship in their own packaging. This reduces added material and can improve delivery efficiency. Customers may still want extra packaging for privacy, gifts, or fragile items, but from a sustainability perspective, safely eliminating the outer box is often one of the highest-value reductions.
