Just about everyone loves Amazon, including me. It’s quickly becoming the world’s largest retailer as consumers have turned to it for its low prices, incredibly fast shipping and diverse offerings. Electronics, groceries, books, clothing, cleaning supplies and services are offered through Amazon. Recently Amazon even put in a bid for the premium grocery store chain Whole Foods for a whopping $13B. People love Amazon and it has no signs of slowing anytime soon. Jeff Bezos is a genius and is on track to be the richest man as a result of his company.
As a shopper on Amazon I looked through my six month purchase history and realized I have over 190 orders. It’s almost embarrassing how much I use Amazon for just about everything I need and want. I find myself waking up every morning and checking the Amazon app on my smartphone looking at what awesome deals it’s offering for the day. I’m a sucker for sales and more often times than not, I find myself ordering something that seems too good of a price to pass up. This past Prime Day was an embarrassment of orders, and as a result, I had over 10 boxes on my porch the following two days.
There’s a glaring issue that I’ve been ignoring that I cannot ignore any longer – Amazon uses way too much cardboard. It’s not all Amazon’s fault, it’s mine and yours too (if you’re a shopper on Amazon). Amazon wouldn’t use any cardboard if no one purchased from it. Amazon isn’t the only culprit here: every online business uses cardboard boxes to ship goods to its customers. I’m singling out Amazon because it’s the leader in online retail and can pave the way for changing the way people do online business. If Amazon leads the way on eliminating cardboard it almost certainly will be better for the planet and our future.
Waste and pollution is a hot topic these days. You hear about stories of global warming, icebergs breaking off shelves in Antarctica, the oceans being littered with plastic bottles that can fill up the state of Texas, and even here in San Diego where I live, we (California) recently enacted a law that charges consumers 10 cents for disposable bags from brick and mortar stores. 10 states in the US have container deposit laws that charge consumers a small fee on plastic, glass and metal containers used in the beverage industry. The law was enacted in those states to encourage consumers to recycle more as well as to curb roadside pollution. Studies show that beverage container legislation has reduced total roadside litter by between 30% and 64% in the states with bottle bills. I was born in Sacramento and raised in California. I’ve never known life without the bottle deposit law.
While I’m not necessarily a fan of paying 10 cents for bags when I need them at the grocery store, the fee has changed my behavior. It has also made me more aware of how I took plastic bags for granted. As a result, I now keep a stash of reusable bags in my truck at all times in order to avoid the fee and to better the environment. It saves me money, but more importantly it prevents me from useless trash. If grocery stores and retail shops have to charge customers for bags, and the beverage industry has to deal with the bottle deposit, why doesn’t Amazon (and others) have to put up with a surcharge or tax on the disposable cardboard boxes it uses to deliver its goods?
Sure we can all wait for the government to step in and provide legislation, but in this day in age where Millennials are looking to make a better world, Amazon should step up and find a solution to the problem. Repacking goods into boxes is not only inefficient, but it literally creates thousands of tons of waste each day. According to a story from the New York Times, San Francisco’s main recycling center collect 100 tons of cardboard every single day. San Francisco is the 13th largest city by population in the US. It’s actually quite difficult to look up statistics on cardboard usage by city, but we can all imagine that New York and Los Angeles probably generate quite a bit more cardboard waste than San Francisco. Combine all of the country’s cardboard usage and it’s a number most of us can’t fathom. That’s simply too much cardboard waste even if it is recycled. There are better solutions to the cardboard box and Amazon, you and I need to do something about it.
Being environmentally conscious works. Disposable water bottles are being replaced by reusable containers. Companies like Hydro Flask and Yeti are making a killing on them. Plastic bags are being replaced with cheap alternatives. This isn’t a political argument I’m trying to make – it’s not about being a Democrat or Republican, it’s about doing the right thing.
You can email Amazon’s customer service department and let them know you want them to make a change. Amazon has already responded once by committing to use the right size box for your items. You can contact your government representatives to let them know you want a change to be made too. But you can also be smarter about how you shop. While Amazon’s shipping service is fantastic, you don’t have to opt to have everything delivered to you as fast as possible. You can designate certain days of the week or month that you place orders through Amazon. That way it allows Amazon to combine as many items into one box. This not only reduces the amount of cardboard and packing material used, but it also reduces the gasoline used by delivery services.
I’m not telling you to stop shopping on Amazon.com, I’m asking that you be aware of the impact you’re having on the environment before it’s too late.