Abstract:
All of us are excited for surprises, and packaging things are one of the important steps in surprising people. Wrapping up stuffs increases curiosity to the person to whom it’s given, but have we ever thought how much waste it produces. Even companies which do e-commerce business wrap things in bubble wraps pack things in cartons and bills them several times in and outside the package. Amazon here has taken an initiative to minimize this issue’s effects on both consumer and retailers side. We all know technology can lend its hand for all social issues same way, cutting edge technologies like machine learning, advanced lab testing features and material sciences have helped amazon to achieve their goal of ‘Reducing waste in packaging’ to some extent. We will explore through what is done and what all can be added in this regard with a social cause techie approach.
Problem identification:
Statistics say that one-third of every garbage is contributed by packaging and wrapping up material. Per year every American throws out about 1,200 pounds of garbage. The U.S. is the #1 trash-producing countries in the world at 1,609 pounds per person per year. The direct or indirect impacts of packaging on the environment include soil degradation, water pollution, and the sharp reduction of scarce resources such as forests, solid waste pollution and toxic chemical pollution and around the globe cities like Manchester, New Hampshire have generated 21% of the waste which is contributed by packaging materials these include, Paperboard boxes, corrugated boxes, Plastic boxes, Rigid boxes, Chipboard packaging, Poly bags, Foil sealed bags and last but not least bubble wrappers - plastic polymer film breaks down slowly, bubble wrap causes a significant environmental problem by taking up space within landfills worldwide
Proposed solution:
The main solution provided by amazon regarding this is ‘Including FrustrationFree Packaging (FFP)‘ since 2008, it have eradicated more than 810,000 tons of packaging materials—more than 1.4 billion shipping boxes—by promoting easy-to-open, recyclable packaging and shipping products in their own packages without additional shipping boxes. So how do they do it? We’ll take a glimpse.
They have a lab at Seattle and fulfilment centres across the globe to guarantee its customer’s products are safely packed and easy to unpack they take specific steps to improve the packaging of products and certify such kind of products under FPP
Initially the packages were packed in hard plastics and protected with plastic coated wire ties which are commonly used in packing goods but in current scenario, more than 1.3 million products qualify under FFP, including the Philips Norelco OneBlade razor, which now takes up 80% less packaging volume than its original design.
How technologies contribute to it:
The packing methods and use of materials are optimized using machine learning like the prediction of how much the size of box is needed for a particular product even does it require a boxing material all these are answered by machine learning algorithms and gives us best set of available green package materials according to its content types Computer aided design and engineering also helps us in designing box with less material usage and at the same time protecting the content till it safely reaches the hands of customer
These initiatives not only address environmental issues also the transportation charges and packaging charges to the company itself
In 2018, they launched a fully recyclable paper padded mailer made of four layers of paper and a water-based cushioning material that protects products during shipping, ensuring customer deliveries arrive undamaged and in sustainable packaging. The cushioning material—created with components commonly found in the glue used to make cardboard—was specifically designed to easily separate from the paper in the same way that print inks and other paper coatings are removed during the paper recycling process.
They also seek the help of vendors and retailers to redesign the packaging they do to their products they well inform their retailers to set their package such that they are damage free, spill proof at the same environment friendly.
Improvements suggested:
Amazon’s initiative in this issue is mind blowing where these suggestions also will be icing on cake kind:
Recycling is the key to eliminate waste in any means even technology can be used to address this usage of internet of things and android applications the retailers can build application to bridge the gap between consumers and packagers where the opened or unwrapped packages can be informed to be collected and the retailers who are in need of it can buy them and use for their packaging stuffs also use of machine learning and artificial intelligence to analyse the goods brought by a customer in different orders those can be grouped and sent as one package this greatly reduced the packaging size cost and material use of Cutting-Edge Materials Radical Surlyn isomer resin from DuPont, for example, can be used into paper-based pockets used for packaging dry goods and snacks. The effective film replaces conventional polyethylenebased flexible packaging, requiring one-third the material to get the job done. Use of biodegradable packing stuffs wherever possible is one more way to reduce environmental hazards caused by packaging
Current progress on particular problem:
Many companies are heading ahead to address this serious issue:
For example Pepsico has reduced its total packaging weight by 350 million pounds over the past five year removing 95 tons of packaging each day during the five-year period. Its current 16.9 oz. water bottle uses half the plastic of a comparable 2002 version. Hershey also made big gains by incrementally reducing the total package weight used to wrap candy bars in its popular Miniature Assortment bags. Though the new wrappers are each only .5g lighter, corresponding reductions in foil and paper use add-up to significantly improved packaging efficiency.
Conclusion:
The above initiative itself shows the amazon’s care and concern towards its every customer and it is also a member of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC), an industry working group dedicated to a more robust environmental vision for packaging. SPC uses strong member support, an informed and science-based approach, supply chain collaborations, and continuous outreach to design packaging that encourages a sustainable flow of materials. Amazon has also joined the International Safe Transit Association (ISTA), an organization focused on the specific concerns of transport packaging. Adding the extra improvements and implementing this with the use of technology can for sure put the packaging industry into good hands Hunt for Eco - Friendly substitutes
References:
https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/sustainability/
https://greatist.com/live/reduced-packaging-how-to-reduce-waste-in-yourdaily-life#1
https://sustainability.aboutamazon.com/packaging-and-products/how-wereduce-packaging-waste
https://www.assemblies.com/consumer-industries-tackle-packaging-waste/
https://www.gwp.co.uk/advantages/sustainable-packaging/
https://www.ift.org/news-and-publications/food-technologymagazine/issues/2019/february/columns/packaging-how-to-reducepackaging-waste
https://sustainability.aboutamazon.com/packaging-and-products
https://harmony1.com/retail-stores-recycle/
https://www.scurri.com/blog/3-easy-ways-retailers-can-reduce-packagingwaste/
https://bizfluent.com/list-7458530-disadvantages-bubble-wrap.html
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