Amazon says it has stopped using plastic air pillows in the vast majority of its packaging for deliveries in North America. 

As of June 20, the company has replaced 95% of its plastic pillows with recyclable paper fillers at its North America fulfillment centers, aiming to fully phase out the pillows by the end of 2024. Amazon estimates that this will eliminate roughly 15 billion plastic air pillows per year.

“I’m proud of the cross-Amazon collaboration to make a positive impact on the customer delivery experience with easier to recycle materials," Amazon vice president of mechatronics and sustainable packaging Pat Lindner said. "It’s a great example of how we thoughtfully test and scale new solutions to protect our customer experience.”

The company started its move away from plastic packaging in North America in October of 2023, when it announced that its automated fulfillment center in Ohio would be the first in the country to replace plastic packaging with recyclable materials.

Although Amazon ditched plastic pillows in Australia and Europe in 2022, its progress toward using more recyclable materials in North America has been considerably slower. Marine conservation nonprofit Oceana estimates the company created 208 million pounds of plastic packaging in the U.S. in 2022, a 10% increase over the previous year. Even so, the group also says the recent move away from plastic packaging in North America marks an important milestone. 

“As the world’s dominant e-commerce company, Amazon’s action to reduce plastic packaging is welcome news for the oceans and the company’s customers," Oceana vice president Matt Littlejohn said. “While this is a significant step forward for the company, Amazon needs to build on this momentum and fulfill its multi-year commitment to transition its North America fulfillment centers away from plastic."