The deputy mayor of Glastonbury and Mendip district councillor Jon Cousins has joined the wave of criticism of online retail giant Amazon for using a range of packaging that is "not widely recycled across the UK".

Green Party councillor Mr Cousins said that Amazon's use of plastic, bubble-lined bags and air pillows was "unbelievable" and called on a possible boycott of the retailer until it only uses recycled cardboard packaging.

Mr Cousins said: "At a time when most people are rightly becoming more concerned about single-use plastic – and as we are beginning to realise just how much of our plastic waste ends up polluting the oceans – it is unbelievable that world's biggest online retailer has deliberately moved away from easily recyclable cardboard packaging and introduced a new plastic packaging that is 'not widely recycled across the UK'.

"Perhaps we should all boycott Amazon Prime until the corporation's bosses have come to their senses."

According to Amazon's Second Chance website, which has a section about how to recycle the company's packaging, their plastic bags, bubble-lined plastic bags, and air pillows are "not widely recycled across the UK".

Critics of the packaging include Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and the Confederation of Paper Industries.

A spokesperson for Amazon UK said in a statement that the company is working with manufacturers worldwide to improve packaging design and introduce new, sustainable packaging that eliminates waste and ensures that products arrive undamaged.

"Our mission is to deliver the very best customer experience," they said.