Amazon trials vegetable-based bags for grocery deliveries in Spain
Amazon has launched its packaging initiative for Amazon Fresh in Spain, introducing bio-based bags for grocery deliveries. Developed in collaboration with Italian chemicals company Novamont, the bags are made from vegetable-based materials, like corn starch and vegetable oils, produced in Europe.
The first trials of the bio-based bags, created from Novamont’s Mater-bi material, are underway in Valencia for Amazon Fresh orders. These food-safe, weather-resistant bags are biodegradable and free from microplastic.
An Amazon spokesperson tells Packaging Insights: “Bio-based materials could progressively replace fossil-based plastics for multiple food packaging purposes, helping to avoid millions of tons of plastic food and drink packaging.”
“Our trial of bio-based Amazon Fresh delivery bags in Valencia demonstrates our commitment to reducing packaging waste while also developing more sustainable packaging solutions. This supports our long-term vision to reduce plastic use and shift toward using materials that are bio-based.”
Advancing circularity
Through partnerships with local recycling partners, used bags returned to drivers can be recycled into pellets. These pellets are sent back to Novamont to produce new bags.
Unlike petroleum-based plastic solutions, biodegradable bags facilitate recycling.“To improve the resource efficiency and circularity of the packaging sector, we’re collaborating with Novamont to develop and test various food-safe bio-based solutions for advanced packaging applications, such as yogurt cups, coffee pods and containers for fruit and meats, in a project co-financed by Circular Biobased Europe,” says the spokesperson.
The bio-based bag initiative is part of Amazon’s sustainability strategy, which includes developing next-generation bio-based materials for packaging applications and reducing packaging wherever possible.
Driving global impact
The results of the Valencia trial will guide the potential large-scale implementation of biodegradable food delivery bags.
“We use a science-based approach that includes continuous materials and technology innovation to find and test solutions that are good for both customers and the planet,” the spokesperson continues.
“While recycling infrastructure varies around the world, Amazon is dedicated to designing packaging that is easier to recycle where such programs exist, while considering country-specific challenges and how to solve them as part of our ongoing approach.”
Amazon’s scientists are also collaborating with the US Department of Energy’s Bottle Consortium, led by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, to develop low-temperature recycling processes for biodegradable materials. EsterCycle, a start-up leveraging this technology, aims to scale this new technology beyond the lab.
