Amazon fills the void and cuts waste by testing tighter-fit boxes
Amazon, as one of the world’s leading ecommerce companies, is responsible for much of the world’s waste packaging but the company is looking to combat this by using technology to better locate smaller boxes capable of accommodating specific orders.
Amazon looks to address waste packaging
The retailer is currently testing software called Box on Demand that promises to provide packaging appropriate for orders.
The company will use machinery that "creates the perfect packaging for your products, reducing the empty space (air) in each shipment. This reduces the need for void fill and improves the protection of contents for each package".
Amazon is set to test the process for 20 months in distribution warehouses across Europe so do not expect these tight fit boxes to appear anytime soon.
Box On Demand made 4.5m customised boxes in 2015, it claims to have had an average void saving (the empty waste space within boxes) of 60 per cent.