Amazon generates millions of pounds of plastic waste

Amazon’s plastic pollution is under scrutiny today with the publication of a new report by the nonprofit ocean advocacy organization Oceana. That report estimates that Amazon was responsible for 465 million pounds of plastic packaging waste last year. Amazon says that figure is overblown — by over 350 percent.

Amazon claims that it uses about a quarter of Oceana’s estimate, according to an email from the company to The Verge. If that’s the case, then Amazon still used more than 116 million pounds of plastic packaging in 2019. Amazon did not share what its total plastic footprint was either through a spokesperson or in its most recent sustainability report published last September.

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