There’s no denying that the speed and convenience of e-commerce shopping is a game-changer, especially during the pandemic when brick-and-mortar stores are inaccessible. However, as consumers, we need to understand the environmental cost of online retail, particularly when it comes to packaging.
During the pandemic, online purchases and returns are surging like never before. Since March of 2020, corrugated box shipments have jumped 9 percent according to the Fiber Box Association. Technavio, a market research firm, estimates that demand for filled-air products is poised to swell by $1.16 billion between 2020 and 2024 because of the spike in online sales.
Currently, less than 14 percent of the nearly 86 million tons of plastic packaging produced globally each year is recycled. The majority of it is left for landfills, incinerated, or left to pollute the earth.
A study by Oceana recently found that Amazon generated 465 million pounds of plastic packaging waste in 2019. They also estimated that up to 22.44 million pounds of Amazon’s plastic packaging ended up in the world’s freshwater and marine ecosystems as pollution in the same year.
The global e-commerce plastic packaging market was valued at USD 10.26 billion in 2019, and it is expected to reach USD 21.78 billion by 2025.
Even for the packaging that can be recycled, it is no substitute for cutting down on waste in the first place. The overall recycling rate for materials, including paper, glass, and plastics, in the US was about 32 percent in 2018, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Up to 40 percent of Americans don’t have access to curbside receptacles for their recyclables, according to a 2016 study. In more rural areas, people might need to drop off their materials at recycling facilities, which makes recycling in general harder for people to regularly do.
What can you do to help combat this waste?
Do your research into companies you shop with. Do they use plastic packaging? Are they transparent in their operations? Are they trying to improve their carbon footprint? Be informed on where you spend your dollars.
Be vocal with companies you shop with on their packaging options. A letter template for this can be found here.
Think thoughtfully about your orders and try to consolidate them into one delivery at a time if possible.
When you do recycle the packaging, do your part to make sure everything in your bin is recyclable, and ensure what you’re attempting to recycle is accepted in your area/recycling facility.