Ban Plastic Shopping Bags, Bottles? What About Shipping Materials?

If I’m away from home and forget my reusable water bottle, apparently, I shouldn’t be able to buy a recyclable bottle of water, because there are too many bottles in landfills. It’s just fine to buy a plastic bottle of soda, though. But, what if I don’t care to put that fizzy junk in my gut? Too bad.

If I’m at the grocery store and forget my reusable shopping bags, apparently, I should have to carry my groceries out in my pockets, or under my chin, because there are too many plastic shopping bags in the world. Never mind that I repurpose those shopping bags instead of purchasing trash bags, which have been manufactured and packaged especially to line my wastebaskets.

What I haven’t heard mentioned, though, is the glut of cardboard boxes and shipping materials plaguing the earth from online-shopping and recipe-delivery services. This is a real problem, folks. Perhaps a bigger problem than plastic bottles and bags.

We’ve all heard about tiny items shipped in too-big boxes. Amazon is reportedly working hard to make sure this doesn’t happen as much anymore. However, with programs like Amazon Prime, there’s no incentive to consolidate or delay orders. Just “one-click” your heart away, and your doorbell will ring with delightful frequency.

Now, let’s talk about meal-delivery services. They necessarily require layers of packaging to keep everything fresh, not all of which is recyclable cardboard. There many plastic bags inside the box, which hold each ingredient in its specified quantity. There are also small plastic bottles, perhaps containing a quarter cup of red-wine vinegar. I’m all for getting people back into their kitchens, but at what cost?

So, let’s talk about recycling those cardboard boxes. Is that the solution to the problem? Does everyone take the time to flatten their boxes and place them in the recycling container? Do they even have a recycling container? Even if they do, it takes energy to transport these items to the recycling center, and lots of energy to perform the actual process.

Yes, there are too many plastic water bottles.

Yes, there are too many plastic bags.

I’m just saying, let’s not forget that there are also too many cardboard boxes and too much shipping-material waste. What’s the solution? Amazon already offers the option to consolidate in as few shipments as possible. Perhaps it could also create an incentive program to consolidate shipments and increase the practice of recycling. It could offer the gold standard that other companies can be measured against.

It’s outstanding that people are thinking about plastic’s impact on the environment, but let’s not lose sight of an equally serious issue. How many shipments have you received this month?

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