Compact by Design Logo
Amazon created Compact by Design to identify products that, while they may not always look very different, have a more efficient design. By reducing water and/or air in the product or packaging, these become more efficient to ship. At scale, these small differences in product size and weight lead to significant carbon emission reductions.

How can you tell that a product is more efficient? We’ve put together a few examples.

heavy bottle in glass

LESS WEIGHT

While two containers can hold the same volume, lighter packaging materials make the product more efficient to ship.
Shampoo bottles vs. Shampoo Bar

WATERLESS TECHNOLOGY

Products can be transformed in exciting, new ways. One example is water-based products that are transformed into solids. This drastically decreases product size and weight.
Multiple cleaners vs. concentrated cleaner

CONCENTRATED PRODUCTS

Compact by Design products can be more concentrated than similar products. A concentrated cleaner, when diluted at home, can make many gallons of cleaning solution.

Here's how we qualify products for Compact by Design:

To qualify for Compact by Design, products must belong to one of the specified product categories and have best-in-class “unit efficiency.” We use product attributes such as item package dimensions, item weight, and the number of units to calculate the unit efficiency of a product. Unit is defined as the total amount of product in the container we are evaluating. This is standardized across a product category, such as fluid ounces in cleaners and loads in laundry detergent.

Unit efficiency is calculated as (cubed volume per unit) x (weight per unit). This metric allows us to calculate the volume and weight utilization for the number of units a product delivers. In this equation, a lower unit efficiency value means a more efficient design. For example, a concentrated laundry detergent can deliver the same number of units (loads) in a smaller volume and weight than a non-concentrated detergent, resulting in a better unit efficiency.
To set thresholds, we calculated unit efficiency across items in an eligible product category. We set these thresholds to recognize the most efficient products within each eligible product category. Products with a unit efficiency better than the category threshold qualify for Compact by Design, and get to be a part of Climate Pledge Friendly.

See eligible product categories and thresholds >
Compact by Design Efficiency Equation