Amazon India has minimised packaging waste across its supply chain under its packaging-free shipping initiative.

Your orders from Amazon India may soon start to come in just the original packaging as the e-tailer looks to cut down on waste generated by packaging materials in the form of cardboard, paper cushions and plastic wraps etc. Amazon India has minimised packaging waste across its supply chain under its packaging-free shipping initiative in over 100 Indian cities. Amazon has debuted with the initiative in India and about 40% of the orders which get shipped from Amazon’s fulfilment centers are now packed without additional layers of packaging. While items such as liquids, fragile items, and personal care products still need additional protection during transportation, the company has started to ship tech accessories, home and home improvement products, shoes, luggage, and other items without additional packaging.

“PFS is a sustainable packaging solution in which customer orders are shipped in their original packaging without any additional packaging, or significantly reduced packaging,” the company said. However, the initiative was rolled out in June last year in 9 cities and the company has now scaled the operations to over 100 cities. With PFS, Amazon transports multiple customer orders in reusable totes during deliveries. Earlier, Amazon had also announced that it will switch to biodegradable packaging material such as paper fillers instead of bubble wraps under its sustainability initiative. 

Amazon uses technology to decide which orders can go without extra packaging based on parameters like the location of the customer, distance the order has to travel and the category of product ordered. “To keep up with Amazon’s vast and rapidly expanding selection, Amazon uses machine learning algorithms to adjust packaging protection depending on the product and transportation conditions,” it said.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has been vocal about climate change issues and in his visit to India this year, he reiterated his interest in protecting the environment. Amazon had also earlier pledged to eliminate plastic usage by the end of June 2020.