Amazon announced that it would deploy advanced machines for making custom-fit packaging across its European network, enabling the production of custom-made cardboard boxes and paper bags for customer deliveries.
In addition to reducing waste and materials usage, Amazon highlighted sustainability benefits of the new packaging, including emissions reductions by maximizing vehicle space to enable more deliveries with fewer vehicles.
The machines are capable of on-demand production of cardboard boxes tailored to the specific size of a shipped product, as well as on-demand production of made-to-fit paper bags. In addition, the company will utilize a high-speed auto-labelling machine that can place labels up to 75% smaller than standard labels on packages, including on irregularly shaped items.
Amazon said that it plans to install hundreds of the automated packaging machines across a number of its European fulfillment centers. More than 70 of these machines will be installed in Germany, the UK, France, Italy and Spain by the end of this year, with more to follow by 2027.
The installation of the new machines form part of a series of sustainable packaging initiatives and achievement by the company. In 2023, Amazon announced that it had achieved 100% recyclable delivery packaging in Europe, including all boxes, bags and envelopes across all items sold by Amazon, as well as third-party selling partners that use Fulfillment by Amazon. The company said that one out of every two of its European shipments are already delivered without a box and come in reduced-size recyclable packaging such as a paper bag or cardboard envelope, and that since 2015, it has reduced the average per-shipment packaging weight by 43%, representing a reduction of more than 3 million metric tons of packaging.
Pat Lindner, VP Mechatronics and Sustainable Packaging at Amazon, said:
“In order to reduce waste, we need to reduce packaging. We use machine learning and automation to create packaging that’s made to fit, reducing excess materials while making sure the product remains protected. We’re now installing automated packaging machines in our facilities across Europe to better serve our customers and the planet. This investment is a significant step forward in reducing the environmental impact of deliveries for our European customers.”
