Supply Chain Scanner - Week of July 7, 2025
Weekly blog by Emily Atkins
Amazon is cleaning up its act, what can you copy to improve your operations?
Amazon recently shared some of the ways it is striving to reduce waste in its operations.
For a company as vast and diverse as it is, this is a big undertaking. From retail food stores to the universe of online products and operations in its fulfillment centres, the company has a lot to consider, but likely also lots of low-hanging fruit. Some of the ideas they are employing to reduce waste might be applied in your operations.
Amazon’s waste reduction strategy is founded on three simple principles: prevent waste where possible, reduce existing waste, and reuse items. The company says it is investing significant resources into innovating waste management solutions.
“At Amazon, we see waste as a defect to be eliminated or reduced unless it’s absolutely necessary. That’s why we have dedicated teams working to reduce waste across our businesses,” said Priscilla Okyere, head of waste and circular solutions at Amazon.
“By finding ways to reuse materials instead of throwing them away, we're helping the environment while also making smart business decisions. We use data to identify where we can make the biggest impact, then either improve existing solutions or create new ones from scratch.”
Amazon deploys data-centric technology like AI in numerous ways to help avoid waste and to manage what does exist. At Amazon.com, for example, it is adding features like AI-generated customer review summaries, the “Frequently returned item” and “Customers usually keep this item” badges and clothing size recommendations to help customers make more informed purchasing decisions, which can help reduce returns.
Cutting the return rate can not only cut waste but also boost profits. The U.S.-based National Retail Federation reported that the average return rate for e-commerce was 16.9% in 2024, worth US$890 billion. Adding tools on your e-commerce site like the ones Amazon has could help ease the burden of returns for your enterprise as well.
The company is also relying on apps to help. Too Good to Go is an app that enables customers to purchase surplus food at discounted prices. In 2024 alone, this initiative has diverted an equivalent of 636,000 meals from going to waste in the U.S. It’s also available across Canada, and if your business involves food products, it might be worth checking out.
Charitable donations are another method of preventing waste that Amazon uses. It connects unused assets across Amazon sites either to another site or a charity. In 2024 they repurposed 310,000 assets and materials through these programs. In Valencia, Spain, 5,000 unused assets like first aid supplies and shelving were donated to Fundación Altius to support disaster relief efforts and affected communities following floods.
In its movie production studio, Amazon introduced a reusable asset hub in 2024 that acts like a lending library for furniture, electronics and other items that are needed on set. It reports that 15 productions have taken advantage of the hub.
Of course, not all waste is preventable, and Amazon is working on a number of specific recycling projects. The company is collaborating with RafCycle, an organization that can recycle the mixed material backing from adhesive labels into things like building insulation and coffee cups. This solution increased the recycling of this material by 16% from 2023 to 2024 in North America. Japan has a supplier that turns the material into toilet paper. This initiative has increased recycling by 50% from 2023 to 2024.
There are plenty of organizations in Canada that can help you take control of materials at distribution centres and warehouses to prevent recyclables like corrugated and plastic film from ending up in landfills. Google “zero waste Canada” to search for local companies that you can engage.
Amazon has also invested in AI sorting technology, both for its operations waste stream and in its Amazon Fresh stores. These sophisticated sorters use advanced machine learning and vision technology to identify items being conveyed in a waste stream so they can be separated into the correct recycling area. With Oscar Sort, an app being tested in retail stores, recycling is gamified to help users correctly sort their waste. Since launching in 2023, Oscar has boosted recycling accuracy by 9% and composting accuracy by 8%.
Amazon clearly has the right idea in trying to prevent waste. And while it has considerable resources to throw at the problem, some of the ideas they are trying are simple and easy to deploy.
Hopefully, your organization is also trying to prevent waste. What are some of your initiatives that are worth sharing with the logistics community?
Join the conversation on Canada’s Logistics Community forum!
Emily Atkins
President
Emily Atkins Group
Emily Atkins is president of Emily Atkins Group and was editor of Inside Logistics from 2002 to 2024. She has lived and worked around the world as a journalist and writer for hire, with experience in several sectors besides supply chain, including automotive, insurance and waste management. Based in Southern Ontario, when she’s not researching or writing a story she can be found on her bike, in a kayak, singing in the band or at the wheel of her race car. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilyatkinsgroup/