Amazon’s Aware range, which was promoted by the ecommerce giant as being eco-friendly, has been found to be manufactured up to 5,000 miles away and delivered in single-use plastic.
Launched in March 2022, Amazon Aware was described as a new line of everyday essentials with 103 products available, including apparel, home and beauty. In a statement introducing the range Amazon said the products were “all thoughtfully designed and made from materials such as recycled polyester, organic cotton, and bio-based ingredients”.
The range was also created as part of Amazon’s Climate Pledge Friendly programme with the aim of building “knowledge, materials and other innovations that improve the products sold in our stores”.
However, reports in the The Telegraph have highlighted that the plastic used to wrap items can only be recycled at large supermarkets, while three pairs of socks that cost £17.80 were made in Pakistan and also arrived in the plastic material.
Furthermore, the range was found to have 20 of its items wrapped in single-use plastic, despite several of the products being delivered in the same box.
This news lead Green Party peer Baroness Jenny Jones to call Amazon’s level of greenwashing as hitting a “grotesque scale”.
