#8 Shipping & Packaging
Recorded Live for Shopify
Season 1, Episode 8
This episode was recorded on February 6, 2020 as part of a live panel discussion with Shopify to help merchants find some zero waste hacks around their shipping and packaging needs. Last year, it was projected that there would be 2.05 billion global digital buyers in 2020. But that was before the coronavirus pandemic was announced. With the world being asked to self-quarantine and practice social distancing, we will have to see how this affects eCommerce companies. Our producer and co-host Michelle recorded a special intro as the release of this episode comes at precarious times.
Our panel included a shipping industry professional, a waste industry expert, a plastic warrior, and a merchant who applies an eco-friendly approach to their eCommerce store. Sustainability Consultant, Sofia Ratcovich of Zero Waste Co., will lead a conversation around the topics of the circular economy, opt-in/opt-out shipping possibilities, what is recyclable and how merchants can adopt a more zero-waste approach.
We wish all of our listeners some silver linings in the different and precarious times.
The Merchant's Q&A can be gifted to our Patreon backers. You can access this portion of the panel at any level of support.
Want to see photos from the event?
Blog Post from Sofia:
We are so grateful to have teamed up with @Shopify for this episode of the Zero Waste Lifehacks Podcast. This episode was recorded live at Shopify's Flagship location in DTLA, which provides "in-person support, training, education, and access to the company's suite of retail hardware products all to help merchants level up their businesses." It's a little bit different than our usual interview format. Still, we have some simple resources to share that are guaranteed to slightly minimize the environmental footprint of both web-based businesses and our online shopping habits. But first, a shoutout to Ian Sloane for DJ-ing our live panel event. He also helped make the theme song for the podcast. Thank you, Ian, for being such a creative genius.
Online shopping, and dare I say Amazon, has forever changed our lives. The way we can get practically any item we desire within 72 hours (most of the time) or less is honestly mind-boggling. Sitting down to write this post makes me think about the seemingly infinite ease with which we can have products from all over the world delivered to our homes with literally just the lift of a finger. And we don't even give it a second thought. But think about it. You imagine something you want, so you sit down in front of the computer or your phone and get to work searching. You find the item, enter shipping information and MAYBE then have to get up again to pull your credit card out of your wallet in another room. Maybe you enter some specific delivery notes, but that's about it. You can have anything you want - with minimal effort, and you don't ever even have to leave your house.
So let's get into this random but related story about the time I walked to Trader Joe's with my baby in the stroller. I parked the stroller by an empty register and put the baby in the grocery cart and then went about my shopping. Next thing I know, I'm paying and suddenly remember that I had WALKED to the store. I forgot I had not driven there and hadn't thought about how I was going to fit everything in the stroller. So I stuffed all my groceries in as best as I could and carried the baby in one hand while I very slowly pushed the super heavy stroller with the the other hand. Walking to the grocery store instead of driving was a choice for me because it keeps me fit, and I use less gas which is one way I #actonclimate While I'm walking home, which was only about three blocks away, I started to think about the fact that in that very moment there are women in my city who don't have the luxury of owning a car and every item they buy needs to get home via bus or subway. Not everyone has a credit card and can place orders online. Heck! Not everyone has a freaking home or the money to purchase what it is that they need, and the thought of that breaks my heart. Right now, there are women in the world who are walking with tattered shoes through war zones, dangerous, hot, and rugged terrain just to obtain something as basic as water. WATER!! Water needed for drinking, cooking, bathing, and possibly even washing clothes. People all over the world have some pretty big challenges to overcome just to have some of the basic things we have, which we never even think about. For instance, do you ever think about the fact that in the United States, most of us can take showers with hot water pretty much for as long as we want? Or, do you ever think about the fact that the water that comes from the hose, the shower, the bathroom, and the kitchen sink is drinkable? Have you ever traveled somewhere you have to use bottled water just to brush your teeth? We have it so good that we take it for granted.
“So what does any of this have to do with shipping and packaging, you may ask? ”
The point I'm making is we all order stuff online, but we put no thought into considering what it took to fulfill our order. There are about 100 million of us who order from Amazon alone and every package arrives in a box which inside might have another box filled with either polystyrene packing peanuts (sometimes they are the biodegradable kind) or non-recyclable bubble wrap or plastic air pouches. It's a lot of stuff. And again, just because something is plastic, or has the little triangle symbol on it does not mean it is actually going to get recycled. So there is a lot of waste that our everyday habits are creating, and we've been a little slow to implement real, sustainable solutions to all the boxes and other waste making it’s way into our alleys. .
From concept to design, material extraction to manufacturing, production, warehousing, delivery, usage, and ultimately disposal, there is a lot of effort, resources, and coordination involved. With planes, trains, automobiles, and even drones working together to bring us our stuff, all kinds of pollution is created. This is the new norm, and it's not because humans are getting lazier. We are continually getting smarter and discovering all sorts of ways to be more efficient. Being able to order items online has been amazing because it saves us so much time. Time spent driving from one place to another, time waiting in line to buy items and time making stuff. But with all the greenhouse gases and non-recyclable trash that online shopping generates, we are running out of time to reverse the damage caused by a steady increase in greenhouse gases in our atmosphere.
Sure, we have made remarkable progress as a species, but we cannot continue this way. We must make some changes, both big and small and fast, so that we can continue to enjoy everything this amazing planet has to offer. Our friends at the Plastic Pollution Coalition created this petition urging Amazon to reduce the amount of single-use plastic in the products it ships. You can sign the petition here. If you continue to use Amazon, as many of us will, you can go into your account settings and request that your items are packaged without plastic. A lot of times, it is possible to package items with paper - not always, but having plastic-free packaging as the default in your account settings will make all the difference, especially if you encourage friends and family to do the same.
Simple tips:
#1 Don’t have items delivered immediately if you absolutely don’t need to. Sure next day delivery is an option but is it really necessary? Will it matter if your item arrives in 2 or 3 days instead of tomorrow? Trust me, I’ve requested to have many items delivered right away - like right now - but that is not always the case and letting our packages take their time getting to us significantly cuts back on greenhouse gases.
#2 If you do happen to receive an item filled with packaging peanuts, try and put in the effort to find someone or a drop off location so they can get reused. Expanded polystyrene or “styrofoam” as it is often referred to is super lightweight and gets easily blown away and ends up as litter making its way to our local beaches. It’s truly the worst. Check if your local UPS is able to reuse these. Not all locations do but it’s worth a try.
#3 Buy less crap. We buy too much stuff. Next time you are going to purchase an item think about the whole process of getting that product to you.
Next time you go to pay for something ask yourself:
Do I really need THIS product?
Can I borrow something similar, trade or buy it used instead?
Where was this product made?
Who made this product? And under what conditions?
How will this item get delivered to me?
Can I buy it locally? Preferably from a small business?
So if you are thinking about buying another cute, cheap t-shirt online and suspect that it was likely made by child laborers halfway across the world working in deplorable conditions, making an unfair wage with no basic employee rights, maybe instead opt to wear something you already have in your closet and avoid further contributing to all the injustice in the world. You can make a difference on this planet one purchase at a time.
Nobody is perfect but we can all at least try to make better choices.
Credits
Thank you Shopify for hosting this event
If you would like a Zero Wast consultation or want to make your next event zero waste, reach out to our host Sofia via her company www.zerowasteco.com
For a free Zero Waste consultation with Sofia Ratcovich visit www.zerowasteco.com
