Amazon's Disgraceful Plastic Pollution

Thanks to Arthur for sending on this correspondance from the '38 Degrees' organisation (and apologies that I have been slow to pick it up).

This is a disaster. Amazon has switched their recyclable cardboard packaging with plastic! [1] Packaging is one of the biggest sources of plastic pollution in the UK, and Amazon's switch will mean more of it clogging up our landfills, killing our wildlife, and choking our oceans. [2] There's already been a massive backlash. It’s all over the news, and people are speaking out about what this change could mean for our environment and our world. [3] So 38 Degrees member Sarah has started a petition calling on Amazon to switch back to recyclable, non-plastic packaging. [4] Companies like these care what their customers think, and if thousands of us sign the petition now, we could pressure them to ditch plastic packaging for good. Imagine the chaos we’d cause in their Head Offices if today they saw thousands of signatures from angry customers - calling on them to switch back. They’ll be forced to backtrack. Will you sign the petition and get Amazon to backtrack on their plastic packaging?It only takes 30 seconds: SIGN THE PETITION While supermarkets and other retailers across the country have been reducing their use of single use plastics, and doing their bit for our environment - the world’s biggest online retailer are doing the exact opposite. This switch will mean millions more plastic packages ending up in the landfill and polluting our oceans. 38 Degrees members have beaten big businesses on plastic waste before. Last year we forced major retailers to ditch plastic cotton buds. [5] And we got PG Tips to commit to removing plastic from their tea bags, after hundreds of thousands of us piled in. [6] Now, if enough of us come together, we can get Amazon to change too. If thousands of us sign the petition now, while this issue is all over the news, we can pressure Amazon to do the right thing and go plastic free. Arthur, if you think that Amazon should be doing their bit to stop plastic pollution, will you sign the petition now? SIGN THE PETITION Thanks for being involved, Sana, Chloe, Robin, Maggie and the 38 Degrees Team Notes: [1] The Guardian: This is crunch point for our oceans: let’s do the right thing: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/aug/19/crunch-point-oceans-treaty Plastic Pollution: THE GREAT PLASTIC TIDE: http://plastic-pollution.org/ The Guardian: Amazon under fire for new packaging that cannot be recycled: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/aug/20/amazon-under-fire-for-new-packaging-that-cant-be-recycled The Telegraph: Amazon branded as 'reckless' for new non-recyclable packaging: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/08/20/amazon-branded-reckless-new-non-recyclable-packaging/ [2] See note [1] [3] See note [1] [4] 38 Degrees: Amazon: please stop using un-necessary plastic packaging: https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/tell-amazon-to-stop-using-un-necessary-plastic-packaging [5] 38 Degrees: Cotton bud success: https://38d.gs/cotto62883 [6] 38 Degrees: PG Tips – we won: https://38d.gs/pgtipac040

And there's a second message>>>

Dear friends, You may have read in recent days that Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, has signed up to a new US document that redefines corporations as having social and environmental responsibilities. Ref: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/aug/20/amazon-under-fire-for-new-packaging-that-cant-be-recycled Currently, Amazon is sending out billions of packages a year, most of them in plastic packaging! Now that the world is beginning to wake up to the terrifying scale of the plastic pollution problem, and the mainstream media is openly naming Amazon as a major culprit, it's time to turn up the pressure!  You can help by taking just a few minutes to share this petition with your friends, family, colleagues, neighbours, and also posting it widely on social media - especially any zero waste or anti-plastic-pollution groups that you know. There must be hundreds of thousands of people in the UK who would want to sign this petition - let's give them a chance to make their voices heard!  The petition: https://you.38degrees.org.uk/p/AmazonStopPlasticPackaging SHARE ON FACEBOOK SHARE ON TWITTER Thank you,  Sarah Dickens