Amazon has announced the deployment of “advanced automated packing technology” across its European fulfilment network in a major initiative to “improve packaging for its customers and reduce waste.” The program represents the company’s “largest European investment in sustainable packaging” to date and will introduce “custom-box making technology to Europe for the first time.”
The company plans to install “hundreds of automated packaging machines” by 2027, with over 70 machines to be deployed in Germany, UK, France, Italy, and Spain by the end of this year. The systems are designed to produce “custom-made cardboard boxes and paper bags in real time”, reducing excess material and increasing logistics efficiency.
“In order to reduce waste, we need to reduce packaging,” said Pat Lindner, Vice President of Mechatronics and Sustainable Packaging at Amazon. “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.” He added: “This investment is a significant step forward in reducing the environmental impact of deliveries for our European customers.”
Key Features of the New Automated Packaging System
- Custom-made cardboard boxes created in real time: Amazon’s machines use “automation and precise sizing technology” to produce fit-to-size boxes. “Employees place an item into the machine, which uses sensors to measure its dimensions and automatically produce a box that is made to fit.” These boxes are labelled and made ready for dispatch immediately. This technology is targeted at “heavier, or more fragile items that need more protection than a padded envelope provides.”
- On-demand, made-to-fit paper bags: Engineers at Amazon “reimagined a machine originally used to create plastic bags”, adapting it to produce “correctly sized, protective bag[s] using a durable, weather-resistant paper and heat-sealing technology.” Having undergone successful trials in Germany and the UK, this solution will now expand to France, Italy, and Spain. The machines help “avoid more than 26 grams of packaging per shipment, on average.” According to the company, “lightweight paper bags used by Amazon are up to 90% lighter than similar-sized cardboard boxes.”
- Innovative labelling technology: Amazon’s Universal Robotic Labeller is a high-speed machine that can apply “smaller labels onto packages, including irregularly shaped items.” It uses “labels up to 75% smaller than standard labels” and can be applied directly to paper bags or products shipping in their own packaging. This feature supports Amazon’s goal to “eliminate the need for additional Amazon packaging altogether.”
Sustainability Outcomes and Broader Impact
The packaging automation project builds on Amazon’s broader commitment to waste reduction. According to the company, “one in two Amazon shipments in Europe are already delivered without a box” and use “reduced, recyclable delivery packaging such as a paper bag or cardboard envelope.” Since 2019, more than “one billion shipments” in Europe have arrived through the company’s Ships in Product Packaging programme, eliminating the need for added packaging.
Since 2015, Amazon states that it has “reduced the average per-shipment packaging weight by 43%,” equating to “more than 3 million metric tons of packaging avoided”—the “equivalent weight of more than 295 of Paris’ iconic Eiffel Tower.”
