Impact on the environment

Cardboard usage

North America cardboard usage increase from 1.1 million in 2017 to 1.3 milions in 2018. Only 35 percent of North American cardboard manufacturing capacity is from recycled content. The recycling rate in Europe is 80 percent and Asia is 93 percent. Amazon, the largest user of boxes, has a strategy to cut back on packing material and has reduced packaging material used by 19 percent by weight since 2016.

Reduced packaging material used by 19 percent in one year.

New requirements for manufacturing

Amazon is requiring retailers to manufacture their product packaging in a way that doesn't require additional shipping packaging. Amazon also has an 85-person team researching ways to reduce and improve their packaging and shipping materials.