Group casts doubt on Amazon’s claims of reducing plastic

By HALELUYA HADERO
AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — A report by environmental group Oceana has found that plastic waste from Amazon packages went up by 18% last year, but Amazon says it has reduced its use of single-use plastic across its network. According to the Oceana’s estimates, Amazon’s plastic waste jumped from 599 million pounds in 2020 to 709 million pounds last year. The advocacy group said that amount of plastic can circle the planet more than 800 times in the form of air pillows. Amazon, for its part, said in a blog post Tuesday that it used 97,222 metric tons (or over 214 million pounds) of single-use plastic last year to ship orders to customers. But that data leaves out plastic used by third-party merchants who sell items on Amazon but don’t use the company’s fulfillment services.