Oceana denounces Amazon’s “great contribution” to marine pollution

Amazon generated a total of 211,000 tons of plastic packaging waste in 2019 and, of that amount, it is likely that 10,700 tons ended up in marine and freshwater environments, according to an Oceana report that highlights the “great contribution” of the company to pollution of the oceans.

The environmental organization focused on the seas publishes a new study this Wednesday that emphasizes the responsibility of the electronic commerce giant “in the drama of plastic that is devastating the oceans”, while Amazon, for its part, argues that the calculations of Oceana overestimates their use of plastics “by more than 300%,” according to company sources told EFE.

Oceana clarifies that it elaborated its analysis in accordance with the data offered by the multinational regarding the volume of shipments and the type of products, but not in relation to the generation of waste because “these figures are not made public”, a complaint from this organization his adviser and expedition leader Ricardo Aguilar.

Amazon also criticizes that the environmental organization has been based on a market share that “has assumed”, but when asked about the correct figure for its market share, the company indicates that, by policy, they cannot share that information.

On the other hand, they argue that Oceana’s estimates were structured around “outdated assumptions about the origin of plastic waste that reaches the oceans”, since “the latest scientific research reveals that most of the plastic waste that ends up in the oceans come mainly from food and drink to go and from fishing activities ”.

The Oceana study calculates that the contribution of the leading company in the western e-commerce market to the problem of marine litter was equivalent in 2019 to dumping into the sea every 70 minutes “a delivery van full of plastic packaging waste”.

Likewise, they point out that Amazon’s environmental impact will only grow if the forecasts for an increase in internet sales are met in a context of health crisis that encourages this type of consumption, as reflected by the estimates of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

To tackle marine pollution, specialists often emphasize the need to avoid generating waste compared to the option of recycling it, especially in a globalized world where different recycling systems coexist: “The type of plastic that is often used in Amazon shipments are not accepted by most municipal recycling programs in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada ”, they maintain in Oceana.

The US company promised on Tuesday that as of January 1, 2022, it will not use single-use plastic bags for shipments from its own distribution network, but will instead use paper bags and cardboard envelopes; a measure that Oceana values ​​as “positive”, although “insufficient”.

“Much of Amazon’s waste is not the plastic bags but also the packaging and the material they use for filling, to prevent the products from moving or being damaged, such as swollen pads, which are practically impossible to recycle”, Aguilar explains.

The last push to end the generation of waste and the consequent pollution of the oceans will come, according to this expert, from the hand of social pressure, as has happened in Germany, where Amazon has already promised to eliminate the plastic packaging of a only use; or a more restrictive policy requiring the complete removal of this material.