Amazon is choosing paper over plastic after finding it's better for employee morale — and the environment.

Christian Garcia, an associate at an Amazon fulfillment center in Bakersfield, Calif., said in an Amazon press release Thursday RELEASE that paper is “not only easier to work with” as a shipping material, but also “gives us more space so it's easier to package orders.”

This ease of use is part of the reason Amazon has decided to replace plastic air cushions with 100% recycled paper filler for all North American delivery packages by the end of the year.

Amazon announced the decision on Thursday and added that it has already exchanged 95% of the packaging in its mainland shipments so far.

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This is Amazon's biggest effort to reduce plastic packaging in North America to date.

^{Amazon Fulfillment Center. Photo by Nathan Stirk/Getty Images}

The move has a positive environmental effect: not only will it prevent Amazon from using around 15 billion plastic pads a year, but it will also allow customers to receive a material that is easier to recycle.

Amazon “will continue to innovate, test and scale to prioritize recyclable materials at the border,” the company's vice president of sustainable packaging Pat Lindner said in the press release.

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Amazon began working on testing alternatives to plastic packaging October, at an automated fulfillment center in Ohio. company DECLARING that she was able to switch from plastic to 100% recycled paper filler because of her work at the Ohio plant.

In it Prime Minister's Day At the event next month, the retail giant says “almost all” of its shipments will ditch plastic and be covered in paper instead.

Environmental non-profit organization Oceana found that Amazon generated an estimated 709 million pounds of plastic packaging waste in 2021, enough to wrap itself around the Earth more than 800 times.

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