The vast majority of us have been there before. We order a tube of toothpaste from an online retailer. Upon arrival, it’s a tube in a box encased in bubble wrap, surrounded by packaging airbags, in a larger box.
Many of us shake our heads, knowing there must be a better, less wasteful way to package products for shipping. If not, maybe toothpaste is something we should just pick up at a local store. We needn’t risk the planet for the sake of dental hygiene.
Right now, every day seems to leave devastation somewhere. It comes in the wake of horrific fires and natural disasters, rising sea levels, and bizarre weather patterns. No wonder many of us are questioning whether our consumer selves are part of the problem.
If you’re looking for small ways to help save the planet, they’re out there. Here are some intentional tips you can practice when shopping online that can make a positive difference.
Save Most of Your Online Shopping for Items You Won’t Return
Statistics regarding the percentage of products purchased online and returned vary. However, they’re all staggering. Lately, we’ve realized that much of what’s returned gets tossed into landfills rather than sold to other consumers.
You can become a more environmentally friendly shopper by practicing some discretion with what you order online. For example, ordering your birth control online is a convenient way to have it delivered to your doorstep. And it’s extremely unlikely that you’ll be returning it to the pharmacy.
In contrast, ordering a coat in three different sizes because you aren’t sure which size will fit is a planetary problem. You know that you’ll keep only one of the coats if any. That means you’ll return at least two coats that the retailer will likely not resell.
Clothing constitutes the highest volume of product types to end up in a landfill. Conceivably, you just added two more to a heap of millions of other coats (shirts, jeans, dresses …) that didn’t fit. If you feel bad about the picture you can see in your head right now, choose to do things differently.
Venture out to a local retailer’s brick-and-mortar store to buy something you’re more likely to return to an online retailer. You can touch it, see colors more accurately, and try it on for size. Better yet, find a bargain at a local consignment shop or reseller rather than buying new.
Clothing, shoes, and accessories are certainly not the only culprits. Online consumers return electronics in droves as well. Although some returns are broken down and sold for parts, some components end up wherever electronics go to die.
You will add carbon emissions to the atmosphere from your car or rideshare trek to a store. Still, they’re likely far less than those from the planes and multiple delivery trucks an online order requires. If you can, walk, ride a bike, or hop on public transportation and lower your footprint even more.
If we weren’t already spoiled by the instant access and convenience of online shopping before the pandemic, we are now. For items you won’t return, online is a great way to shop. For others, save the planet and get a little fresh air and exercise by getting up out of the chair.
Shop Online Retailers Committed to Sustainability
Nearly every online retailer allows returns, and most pay for return shipping to make it easy on the consumer. That incentivizes consumers to buy online, but it propagates the negative environmental impact of returns in two ways. There are the carbon emissions produced on the return trip plus the potential of the items ending up in a landfill.
What happens to products when they are returned is referred to as “reverse logistics.” Before you click the “place order” button, find out what the online retailer’s reverse logistics practices are. Be a more intentional online shopper by ordering only from those companies that practice sound reverse logistics.
You should also shop with companies that have a commitment to reducing their carbon emissions by a target date. Avoid online retailers that aren’t even attempting to be green. The more consumers who do, the more likely the retailer will be to commit to eco-conscious practices.
Consider Etsy, for example, which supports thousands of small online retailers and has committed to zero carbon emissions by 2030. The company itself and its retail community use sustainable shipping materials. Moreover, its retailers produce products locally, which in and of itself reduces carbon emissions.
Most of the behemoth online retailers have set zero-carbon target dates. But you need to balance that with their individual reverse logistics practices. An effort toward sustainability in one direction may be negated by failure in another.
Zero Out Your Own Carbon Emissions
Zeroing out carbon emissions can be a difficult concept to understand. How can an airline, for example, possibly reach a target for zero emissions? It’s all about looking at everything they do that’s not environmentally friendly and offsetting it with actions that are.
You can apply the same concept to your own online shopping. To pay for purchases, use a credit card that plants a tree with every transaction. Or make a donation to an environmental nonprofit commensurate with every online purchase you make.
If you really think you must order three sizes of a particular clothing item, don’t send the other two back. Instead, donate them to a local organization that gives clothing to people in your community who need help. Count the donation toward your personal zero-carbon target.
If all these measures sound like you’ll be spending more money and effort to shop intentionally, you’re not wrong. Smaller businesses have to charge more for a particular product than a huge retailer does. And donating rather than returning items means not you’re getting your money back.
Saving the planet is an investment and one for which it’s well worth doing your part. Being an intentional e-commerce consumer, or becoming a less frequent one, will require more time and money. But every time a single person makes one green move, the ripple benefits the world.
The next time you’re about to check out online, make sure you’ve put some thought into what you’re doing. There’s no denying e-commerce is here to stay. Just do your small part for the planet every time you fill your virtual shopping cart.
