The world’s largest e-commerce company should collect and recycle the cardboard waste it creates, writes Graham Matthews
Every day Amazon delivers two million packages in cardboard boxes around the world. Many people remove their goods and chuck the empty boxes in their recycling bins, which is often the best option. However, there are plenty of times Amazon’s cardboard boxes aren’t disposed of sustainably.
In the UK, it’s estimated that 70.6 percent of cardboard is recycled, making it the third-most recycled material after metal and glass. That sounds good but it also means almost a third of cardboard is disposed of improperly – either ending up in landfill or being incinerated. This likely includes boxes used to package, protect, and deliver goods from Amazon.
It’s not just households, businesses receive lots of Amazon deliveries daily and the empty boxes soon fill up recycling bins. Not all businesses have specific cardboard recycling bins, so there’s a chance plenty get chucked away with general waste and make their way to landfill or incineration plants. And if the recycling bins are full they’ll often be put in with general waste without a second thought.
Most cardboard can be recycled up to seven times before the paper fibres become too thin and short to stick together. Even then, introducing fresh wood pulp or virgin paper can form partially recycled cardboard (like when a cereal box claims it’s made from 90 percent recycled cardboard). So, there’s often life in those old Amazon boxes.
Many of the cardboard boxes Amazon use for their deliveries seem to be sturdy and of decent quality, so you’d expect they could be recycled many times over. Even cardboard at the end of its life can be composted rather than rotting in landfill or being burned, which both release emissions that contribute to global warming.
Will Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for packaging affect Amazon?
The new EPR for packaging should apply to Amazon as they fall under the government definition of “companies that produce, supply, and import packaging will be responsible for the costs of managing it once it becomes waste”.
As a large organisation, Amazon may need to:
- Report their data about empty packaging and packaged goods they supply or import in the UK
- Pay a waste management fee (based on packaging classes as household packaging)
- Cover scheme administrator costs
- Pay a charge to the environmental regulator
However, fees for EPR for packaging won’t start until October 2025. EPR has been introduced in other countries such as Belgium and Spain, where it’s helped to increase recycling rates of target materials, so there’s hope.
Until the new EPR rules come into effect it remains to be seen how it will impact Amazon. Reporting on their packaging data should hopefully show the tree-mendous scale of the cardboard waste they generate and force them to act.
The size of any fees and costs might nudge them to search for a sustainable solution, but as a trillion-dollar company and one of the richest in the world, it’s likely to be small change for them.
How can Amazon improve cardboard recycling?
Regardless of EPR, Amazon should take responsibility for the forests of cardboard waste they create. Operating a scheme where drivers take back empty cardboard boxes when making their next delivery to the same address, whether a home or business, could be a solution.
This avoids adding extra journeys to prevent increasing the carbon footprint and should ensure the cardboard boxes are recycled through the proper channels. It’s simple for consumers and may help minimise and even eliminate Amazon’s branded cardboard boxes ending up in landfill or being incinerated.
Increasing cardboard recycling rates and sustainability around the use of trees, wood, and paper surely makes sense for such a rich company named after the largest forest in the world.
Graham Matthews is the Head of Content at BusinessWaste.co.uk
