Australia’s most celebrated NFL export has a Super Bowl ring, a reported US$66 million contract and a new title: Amazon’s Packaging Reduction Officer. Here’s why Jordan Mailata is taking it seriously.
Upon first impressions, Philadelphia Eagles’ star Jordan Mailata is not just physically imposing. The Aussie-born left tackle – whose day job it is to absorb monstrous hits from defensive linemen – pairs an infectious, megawatt smile, with a knockabout, grounded demeanour.
If that description has you thinking about Sandra Bullock’s prodigy in the movie The Blind Side, you are spot on. This left tackle has roots much further South than Tennessee, however.
While Mailata was born in Western Sydney, his parents are first-generation Samoan immigrants to Australia. And Fa’a Samoa – the Samoan way – is never far from the Super Bowl champion’s mind.
Clad in an orange Amazon vest complete with a ‘Packaging Reduction Officer’ name badge, Mailata looks as comfortable in a fulfilment centre as he does on the line of scrimmage. He laughs good-naturedly, wearing his uniform with pride, amid ribbing from his brother, who is in the room just off-camera.
“Mum was a hotel cleaner for about 40 years. So I think her cleanliness, I take pride in that… because I think I’m the best cleaner out of my siblings,” Mailata says with a grin.
Jokes aside, Australia’s superstar export, said to earn USD$22 million a season in the NFL, says sustainability and reducing waste is important to him. Partly because of the global-warming-accelerated rising tides threatening his Samoan homeland, and partly because that is how he was raised.
“I’m one of five kids. Four boys and one girl and I’m the 2nd youngest. We had to help mum out. There was no choice. And I’m very glad that we did. She taught us to recycle everything, starting off with separating the garbage. That’s where it all began,” Mailata says.
Having him step in as Amazon’s Packaging Reduction Officer serves as a high-profile vehicle for Amazon Australia to encourage customers to embrace sustainable packaging – or none at all.
One in 10 orders that arrive at Aussie addresses are now shipped without additional packaging, according to the company. The original packaging is good enough, “without a need for an additional box or envelope.”
Over the last five years, the volume of ‘no packaging packages’ has tripled, and for those deliveries that need additional cushioning, Amazon uses recyclable box material, paper bags, paper envelopes, and paper dunnage – which replaces the plastic air pillows of yesteryear. Globally, these changes have reduced the volume of packaging by 4 million metric tonnes.
Rising tides in the Pacific
In an era of hyper-commercialised athlete branding, Mailata views his role at Amazon as an extension of his responsibility to the Pacific Island nations disproportionately affected by the climate crisis.
According to the UNDP Climate Change Adaptation group, Samoa is extremely vulnerable to climate change, despite having contributed little to its drivers. Much of the infrastructure on the remote island is in low-lying coastal areas. Increasingly severe cyclones, heat, humidity, rainfall and dengue-carrying mosquitoes are already impacting the island nation.
The former South Sydney Rabbitohs player says he is motivated to drive awareness of rising sea levels and the need to prioritise sustainability.
“Kids who probably don’t even know what it is, they see me and they think ok, he may not be on the island with us, but he understands the risks and the outcomes of global warming and what we have to do.”
Creating a sustainable, cross-cultural legacy
The timing of this partnership comes as Australian consumers’ are growing their relationship and interest in the NFL. While Mailata won’t be a part of the Rams versus 49ers NFL season game at the MCG on September 11, Mailata has become an unofficial diplomat for the sport down under.
His goal is to ensure the “most athletic people in the world” – Australians – have a clear pathway to the global stage, he says.
The Australian NFL Contingent
“I want to grow the game back home because it expands the opportunity for Australians and Pacific Islanders to play the sport. It’s made for us. Australians are the most athletic people in the world and you can’t convince me otherwise,” he says.
Mailata is just one of three Australians to wear a Super Bowl ring, yet one of nine currently playing in the League, and one of three who hail from the Sydney area.
Identity forged in the fire
Mailata’s trajectory – from Bankstown Lidcombe Hospital to the heights of American professional sports – is a study in navigating complex cultural identities. He speaks with refreshing candour about the friction of growing up as a Samoan Australian and the clarity that only came once he was “thrown into the fire” of the U.S. market.
“Growing up a Samoan in Australia, you struggle with your identity because you’re going to school in Australia, but your dad is an old school Samoan, an old head who still wants to raise you with those customs and beliefs,” says Mailata.
It was in the displacement of relocating to the US at just 21, that he found his core.
“I think when I left home, it was kind of like, holy shit, who am I? I don’t want to forget who I am. But I did remember, hey, I’m a Bankstown boy. I was born and raised in Australia. I’m Australian. Yeah, I’m a Samoan Australian. I will never forget where I came from.”
And that he says, has helped him cope with the high-flying life of a Philadelphia Eagle.
“It’s not what you wear, what you drive, the price tag of any of that, it’s the character. Who are you when the cameras aren’t on. Who are you when no one’s looking? That is the stuff that Samoans use and teach you. At the end of the day, it’s about your character.”
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