Inside Microsoft’s Journey to Eliminate Single-Use Plastics in Packaging

For many of us at Microsoft, “becoming zero waste” isn’t just a responsibility in our job description, it’s something we care about personally. Around 2015, that mindset started showing up consistently in design and development conversations, with my team pushing for more sustainable packaging solutions. Other teams raised similar concerns, especially in response to widely used formats like plastic foam and blister packs (those hard plastic shells sealed around products). 

As discussions evolved, it became clear that packaging is one of the most tangible ways our sustainability choices show up at a global scale, putting pressure on us to move faster and design more deliberately. 

In 2020, as part of Microsoft’s ambition to be a zero-waste company by 2030, we set a target to eliminate single-use plastics in primary product packaging. That target reflected a broader change: packaging sustainability must be built into our operating model from the start rather than layered on after the fact. Done right, we can earn customer trust, strengthen how we design and scale packaging, and avoid late-stage tradeoffs between cost, performance, and sustainability. 

Building this way means reworking the basics: materials, supply chains, customer experience, accessibility, aesthetics, and even how teams work together. That’s what we’ve focused on in product packaging at Microsoft. 

It starts with challenging default assumptions. We ask if we truly need this material, this step, this component? From there, we’ve built the tools and processes that bring sustainability in early using data, modeling, and shared decision frameworks so teams can make informed, intentional tradeoffs. In many cases, we’ve built these tools in-house, using systems like Dynamics 365 to track progress and manage data. 

Fundamentally, the difference is in how our teams think. When sustainability becomes part of how decisions are made, it stops being a constraint and starts becoming a source of creativity, clarity, and momentum. 

Why is product packaging so hard to change? 

Making changes to packaging looks easy on the surface. Just use less plastic, swap materials, call it done. The reality is much more complicated. 

Packaging serves many functions, but at its core, it ensures a product reaches the customer intact and delivers a great experience. That journey to our customers varies widely, from highly automated systems (think of planes, trains, and warehouses) to traveling long distances with limited infrastructure, where the “last mile” could be a bike or a hand-carried delivery, like in the Netherlands and India. 

That range makes all the difference. The same packaging must perform in each of those conditions, which makes changing it more complex. How much protection a product needs influences both the type and amount of material we use, and we test extensively to make sure the end result performs as required. 

As we’ve removed layers like foam and plastic shells, we’ve also brought protection closer to the product and designed each unit to be more resilient. Different approach, but the same goal: use less material without compromising protection or the customer experience. 

This shift—sustainability being treated as a core design input—shows up in decisions across our packaging work, like rethinking protective materials for Xbox and redesigning Surface packaging to reduce plastics. 

Springboard cushioning for Xbox consoles 

• We replaced traditional plastic foam with a paper-based cushioning system designed to protect consoles through global shipping conditions. This “springboard” structure absorbs impact while using less material and removing single-use plastics. Similar design and material innovations extend across consoles and accessories, such as paper protective wraps and coatings replacing plastic films. 

Getting rid of shrinkwrap from Surface 

• For Surface, we're focusing on minimizing single-use plastics and reducing overall material use. We’ve phased out plastic shrink wrap and shifted to fiber-based packaging, with virgin paper sourced from responsibly managed forests*. Surface device packaging is made from at least 70% recycled content in wood-based fiber**. 

We’re now focused on areas where single-use plastics are harder to replace, including game and battery packaging.  

Plastic film overwrap for video games, for example, is widely used across the industry to help prevent product loss and verify new physical games for customers. We’re evaluating alternatives to film overwrap and sharing what we learn with the broader gaming industry. For plastic shrink wrap used to ship batteries for our Xbox controllers, we’re testing paper-based alternatives that meet our standards for product protection. 

This month, we’re featuring a perspective from our Devices team on how AI can help accelerate how we make sustainable packaging decisions. 

“AI has enormous potential to turn sustainability into a predictive and proactive discipline. When applied thoughtfully, it can help identify inefficiencies, model tradeoffs, and surface insights humans alone would miss.  

In packaging and materials work, AI can accelerate analysis across complex datasets, helping teams quickly understand environmental impacts, compare alternatives, and focus effort where it delivers the greatest benefit. We also see opportunities to apply AI in the automation of our sustainability metrics, significantly reducing overhead, increasing accuracy and gleaning greater intelligence from this data.” 

- Jeff Loth, Principal Sustainability Lead for Microsoft Devices 

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• Learn more about our approach to zero waste  
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*Sources must be Forest Stewardship Council certified 

**Applies to sales packaging. Based on internal analysis using IEEE Std 1680.1-2018. IEEE Standard for Environmental and Social Responsibility Assessment of Computers and Displays. 4.7.3.1 Required—Recycled content in wood-based fiber packaging.