What is wrong with a well organized trip to a local store? Especially a market with a butcher/fish counter. Then you can buy 1 onion, 3 mushrooms, and a single chicken thigh if needed. And then you can use canvas bags and reuse the produce bags to further minimize waste. And even bike to the store.
12
I read this column with interest because where I live, you can't walk to anything. It's rural. So many people without reliable transportation are stuck eating from some type of gas station or speedy mart sort of business where there is nothing fresher than the weekly delivery of beer. A service such as this would be an incredible boon for the disabled, elderly, etc. The amount of packaging necessary to get fresh produce to this segment of our population is well worth it. For those of you who have the "luxury" of debating about such services and its impact on the environment, please consider that if someone in the rural parts of my state could have access to it, it could literally mean their life or death.
8
Is there any way to reward the good packager & charge extra cost to a bad packager?
Yes.
Charge the manufacturer or distributor for disposal of packaging material upfront. That should be added to the price of the product as a surcharge. The money received towards disposal would be passed on to various municipalities or townships or villages, depending on the location of the consumer. The cost paid by consumer for disposal surcharge will therefore be paid back in terms of reduced cost of disposal levied on people by the municipalities. The so called surcharge would be nearly cash neutral to every person in a big picture.
How to determine the surcharge? Enough data is available to calculate nationwide average for each type of packaging material. For example, cost of disposable are: cardboard boxes X cents per/lb, Plastic containers Y cents/lb, foams Z cents/lb, Aluminum cans A cents/lb & so on. These national averages then can be applied to each item, depending on its packing weight. Same surcharge will be levied on all imported products. Same charge would be levied on Amazon & eRetailers for the packing they add.
The customers will see increased prices of disposal of inefficient packaging. The competition will spur innovations to devise packaging that will cost the least for disposal.
That will be good for fair allocation of costs and also for reducing mountains of garbage in our land.
Yes.
Charge the manufacturer or distributor for disposal of packaging material upfront. That should be added to the price of the product as a surcharge. The money received towards disposal would be passed on to various municipalities or townships or villages, depending on the location of the consumer. The cost paid by consumer for disposal surcharge will therefore be paid back in terms of reduced cost of disposal levied on people by the municipalities. The so called surcharge would be nearly cash neutral to every person in a big picture.
How to determine the surcharge? Enough data is available to calculate nationwide average for each type of packaging material. For example, cost of disposable are: cardboard boxes X cents per/lb, Plastic containers Y cents/lb, foams Z cents/lb, Aluminum cans A cents/lb & so on. These national averages then can be applied to each item, depending on its packing weight. Same surcharge will be levied on all imported products. Same charge would be levied on Amazon & eRetailers for the packing they add.
The customers will see increased prices of disposal of inefficient packaging. The competition will spur innovations to devise packaging that will cost the least for disposal.
That will be good for fair allocation of costs and also for reducing mountains of garbage in our land.
2
Extraordinarily well-written. Well done Mr. Bilton.
3
I don't get it. Amazon takes everything but the product back. They ASK you to return the green plastic bags, though I confess I sometimes keep one because they make great wastebasket liners. Are you saying Amazon doesn't reuse this stuff? I presumed they do, including the "cold packs". And though I sometimes still go to the grocery store, my food costs have gone way down by avoiding the impulse purchases. And waste food is way down, because I don't buy too much, say, lettuce, in case I run out at an inconvenient time --and then have the excess spoil.
I shop a lot at Amazon, but Seattle has pick up recycling as part of its trash service, and almost all the packaging from Amazon is recyclable. Only those hard plastic shells the manufacturers use go in the garbage, or styrofoam used by the manufacturer, not Amazon. I haven't seen a packing peanut for years.
Perhaps people should spend their energy insisting that their cities make recycling easy, rather than bashing Amazon. Yeah, little things sometimes come in multiple boxes, but it just takes a few seconds to get them to the recycle bin. Check out Consumerist.com for some interesting articles as to WHY shippers pack the way they do.
I shop a lot at Amazon, but Seattle has pick up recycling as part of its trash service, and almost all the packaging from Amazon is recyclable. Only those hard plastic shells the manufacturers use go in the garbage, or styrofoam used by the manufacturer, not Amazon. I haven't seen a packing peanut for years.
Perhaps people should spend their energy insisting that their cities make recycling easy, rather than bashing Amazon. Yeah, little things sometimes come in multiple boxes, but it just takes a few seconds to get them to the recycle bin. Check out Consumerist.com for some interesting articles as to WHY shippers pack the way they do.
7
This is true for all online ordering. In my neighborhood, the very infrequent visit of a small UPS or FedEx truck used to be the norm. In the last year or two, it's become a convoy of UPS and FedEx trucks rumbling through all day long. And they are no longer the regular-size trucks, but now upgraded to an extended length to transport all those goodies. I've also noticed the drivers don't seem as friendly as they used to be. Now they seem harried and hell-bent on making the hundreds of deliveries.
6
In exchange for the privilege of operating on public roadways, and using public waste disposal and recycling facilities, all online delivery services should adhere to universal standards for packaging. All companies should adhere, and all products should come in homogenous reusable, returnable boxes that return for re-use via the supply chain in reverse--very much like the green amazon bags, but without the branding (and the surplus packaging inside--as this article points out). After we accomplish this, we should come up with universal standards for electronic device chargers ;)
2
I dunno, I buy from Safeway online and it arrives at my doorstep in pretty much the same packaging.
Packaging is an ecological issue, but plastic and paper bags of the grocery variety can both be recylced and the ecological cost can be readily managed through very low excise taxes that incent both companies and consumers to recycle and make good choices.
Packaging is an ecological issue, but plastic and paper bags of the grocery variety can both be recylced and the ecological cost can be readily managed through very low excise taxes that incent both companies and consumers to recycle and make good choices.
1
I use Amazon Fresh and don't understand your concern. Amazon ships everything to me (Northern CA) in green bags, sometimes with a cooler inside, and I return all this packaging to Amazon for reuse, including the plastic bags for produce inside the large green bags.
3
I own a few companies which are pretty large consumer shippers. We are online sellers.
The point (of many) that the commentators are missing here is not how perfect you are about returning your packaging. The MASSIVE indiscretion here is that your box of eggs or head of lettuce now has taken dozens of trips in carbon burning trucks before it even gets to your door.
In addition, your 'green' returning of the packaging does even more damage on the back end. There would be much less impact on the environment if you just tossed the packaging out the window of your hybrid on the way to Starbucks.
How could you folks be so naive as to miss the tremendous amount of back and forth shipping going on here. If you have ten different types of groceries in your shipment I would guess that 20 trucks have touched your order BEFORE it even left Amazon. Geeeeez folks, think this stuff through a bit.
Narcissism is a silent killer.
The point (of many) that the commentators are missing here is not how perfect you are about returning your packaging. The MASSIVE indiscretion here is that your box of eggs or head of lettuce now has taken dozens of trips in carbon burning trucks before it even gets to your door.
In addition, your 'green' returning of the packaging does even more damage on the back end. There would be much less impact on the environment if you just tossed the packaging out the window of your hybrid on the way to Starbucks.
How could you folks be so naive as to miss the tremendous amount of back and forth shipping going on here. If you have ten different types of groceries in your shipment I would guess that 20 trucks have touched your order BEFORE it even left Amazon. Geeeeez folks, think this stuff through a bit.
Narcissism is a silent killer.
10
I have been using FreshDirect since it started delivering to the UWS of Manhattan. The change in the number of cartons and other packaging is dramatic. I remember the day when a bunch of bananas would come in a carton of its own. I delight in it every time I order. At the same time, I am so disturbed by the change in packaging of food that has taken place in other markets. The amount of plastic containers used for lettuce mixes, berries I could go on and on. Its hard to cut them out. However, I am a crazed recycler so I do the best I can. Now I want to find a place to recycle the rubber bands that appear on almost all food these days. I have no need for rubber bands at all. :-(
2
I don't care as long it makes me look hip and I can rant about it on The Times. Betcha Amazon loves it too. They probably have a list of journalists likely to column-rant after the occasional blunder.
By the way the illustration is great but won't work in small claims court. Trust me, or just ask Judge Judy.
P.S. This really belongs in the Style section.
By the way the illustration is great but won't work in small claims court. Trust me, or just ask Judge Judy.
P.S. This really belongs in the Style section.
5
While convenient, I too face this guilt of ordering online. Although I recycle, the amount of packaging is quite substantial. The irony of this is that in many places in the SF bay area, stores are required by law to charge for bags. These bag charges end up hurting the people who can least afford it. But online services don't have any such requirements.
5
This has been my #1 complaint with Blue Apron since we started using them several months ago. Completely ridiculous: a single piece of parsley warrants its own plastic bag. (Side complaint: they don't even pre-wash it for you, so what exactly are they protecting it from?? When we used to get a vegetable box delivered, all the veg just came mixed in the box together - which was fine.)
I'm so frustrated with Blue Apron that I pre-cancel our order about 75% of the time. Unless the menus are all ones we can't wait to eat, it's not worth the waste of materials they use to send the food.
I'm so frustrated with Blue Apron that I pre-cancel our order about 75% of the time. Unless the menus are all ones we can't wait to eat, it's not worth the waste of materials they use to send the food.
I had a somewhat similar experience with online grocery shopping. I'm trying to watch my weight and struggle mightily with impulse buying at the grocery store, so I thought I'd try Safeway's online grocery shopping as a control mechanism.
The groceries were delivered in recyclable paper grocery bags, so I've nothing to criticize Safeway for in that regard. However, being in CA, I've long since drunk the personal, reusable bag koolaid, so I still found myself wrestling with "packaging shame". I ended up stopping the service after two tries because I felt so guilty.
It's not a bad thing, really. We could all stand more such hesitation in our lives.
The groceries were delivered in recyclable paper grocery bags, so I've nothing to criticize Safeway for in that regard. However, being in CA, I've long since drunk the personal, reusable bag koolaid, so I still found myself wrestling with "packaging shame". I ended up stopping the service after two tries because I felt so guilty.
It's not a bad thing, really. We could all stand more such hesitation in our lives.
2
Get back to me on this when you are in your late 70s, disabled, and live alone in own home, like me. Oh, and be sure you have a tankless water heater, a front loading HE washing machine and no dryer, dish washer, iron, not hair dryer, by choice, like me.
23
Yup, yup, yup!
1
It's mind-boggling that this needs to be pointed out to people: buying products (that can be bought locally) online does not help the environment. We all do it, but we should all do more to keep it to a minimum. We disintegrate our communities, we degrade our own health, and we pollute the environment each time we buy products, that we could easily obtain locally, online. Especially items that grow out of the ground.
Just like buying plastic bottles full of water is a bad choice for our environment, and should not be purchased for any reason other than a party or a sports team event . When you consider that EVERY piece of plastic that has ever been generated still exists today (including every little fraction of a broken toy, every piece of saran wrap or package shrink wrap, every discarded ziploc bag), then that might make people stop and think each time they buy some plastic thing. Even if it is recycled (which, for the most part, it isn't), it will remain in existence for thousands of years.
I don't buy the argument that perhaps driving to the store would be worse. How did the groceries get from the store to your door? Did they teleport magically? No, they were driven in a truck that burned fossil fuels.
Just like buying plastic bottles full of water is a bad choice for our environment, and should not be purchased for any reason other than a party or a sports team event . When you consider that EVERY piece of plastic that has ever been generated still exists today (including every little fraction of a broken toy, every piece of saran wrap or package shrink wrap, every discarded ziploc bag), then that might make people stop and think each time they buy some plastic thing. Even if it is recycled (which, for the most part, it isn't), it will remain in existence for thousands of years.
I don't buy the argument that perhaps driving to the store would be worse. How did the groceries get from the store to your door? Did they teleport magically? No, they were driven in a truck that burned fossil fuels.
18
While I would certainly agree that we should be mindful of pollution and waste (and buy less plastic), I wouldn't be so quick to condemn online shopping. The driving argument actually does make sound sense for a lot of online shopping. When you think about it, most online shopping arrives in the mail truck - which delivers something to almost every house, using a lot less gas per item than you would use driving somewhere for a single item (or even ten or twenty). And the professor cited in this article did research to show that, he didn't just make it up.
3
Good article, but I wish the author had noted the economic cost of all this packaging (both to collect/recycle the trash and in terms of the environmental impact) -- and that the delivery companies do not bear this cost. What would happen if companies had to factor this externality into their business model by requiring them to pay the true cost of disposing of the packaging?
7
Thanks Nick for this great piece! As we rush around to get things done faster, easier, and more conveniently, we should take stock in the full impact of our choices and actions. What surprises me is that in the age of the Millennial, a generation that is supposed to care about social impact, we have so many young start-ups (also run by that generation) that - as you aptly point out - haven't connected the dots between their companies and the environmental impact. I am wondering ...why the disconnect?
5
Stop watching TV and spending more time on the net.
Plan and go grocery shopping in person.
Don't give me the excuse " i am short of time"
Plan and go grocery shopping in person.
Don't give me the excuse " i am short of time"
12
I use Peapod occasionally for groceries, especially heavy or bulky items (kitty litter, for example) that are too hard to transport when you don't own a car. The packaging seemed to be similar to what I'd get at a grocery store. I reuse/recycle the bags, and recycle the cardboard boxes.
3
I stopped using Peapod when everything was delivered in a separate plastic bag. It made me crazy and I couldn't get them to stop. If I am going to make the effort to bring bags to the store why would I want them to deliver everything in plastic?
3
An important but overlooked issue.
It has been troubling to see the surge in "instant-gratification" food, groceries and other delivery in Manattan, which is a walkable area with generally good walking access to grocery stores and drugstores. The delivery increase is not just about the ease of delivery. The increase also relates to changing culture and demographics - increasingly affluent and entitled people moving in.
There are clearly more vehicles on the streets of Manhattan now, delivery trucks and vans for services such as Fresh Direct, Instacart, Google etc - resulting in more traffic congestion and pollution. (With Uber further adding to congestion and traffic).
Delivery also destroys local stores and the sense of neighborhood.
It has been troubling to see the surge in "instant-gratification" food, groceries and other delivery in Manattan, which is a walkable area with generally good walking access to grocery stores and drugstores. The delivery increase is not just about the ease of delivery. The increase also relates to changing culture and demographics - increasingly affluent and entitled people moving in.
There are clearly more vehicles on the streets of Manhattan now, delivery trucks and vans for services such as Fresh Direct, Instacart, Google etc - resulting in more traffic congestion and pollution. (With Uber further adding to congestion and traffic).
Delivery also destroys local stores and the sense of neighborhood.
19
You see fewer FreshDirect trucks because they've worked on their delivery modes. As an older somewhat disabled person who can carry little home on my own, and there are many like me in Manhattan, FreshDirect is a boon!
13
In The Locust and the Bee, Jeff Mulgan says: Communism failed because it didn’t let prices tell the economic truth, and capitalism will fail because it doesn’t let prices tell the ecological truth.
21
The other downside to online grocery shopping is the loss of social contact. I find that meeting people is another source of nourishment.
23
It's not the packaging that matters so much as the food itself. Animal-based food in the best packaging is vastly worse for the environment than plant-based food in the worst packaging. Nothing compares to the environmental degradation of animal agriculture, yet the worst part about it is of course the cruelty.
18
Wait, this writer lives in San Francisco. I thought San Francisco was a major city. Isn't there a grocery store he or his wife could WALK to if they need a lemon? That seems like it would be the most environmentally friendly thing to do. Why excoriate Amazon for sending their lemon in a big box?
16
By all means excoriate Amazon for unnecessary liberties.
1
Thanks for bringing attention to this matter. I go out of my way to recycle components from online orders--bubble wrap goes to the UPS store, and has to be separated from the styrofoam and other non-recyclable material; recyclers will only accept boxes which have been cut and flattened. I shred the order sheets with my address and other information, and only one far-away recycling receptacle accepts shredded paper--I have to take the bus or a taxi to get there. (Then there is composting, which takes time as well..) On the plus side, the hassle of responsibly discarding the waste has led me to order much less than usual lately.
5
The way you have 'internalized' the externality of online shopping has led you to purchase less... We need to use true cost price structures so that we, as a society, can make a similar progression.
1
I was horrified with the big green bags, etc. the first time I used Amazon Fresh. They told me they eould come back in 4 days and pick them up. I explsined I had no place to keep them in my tiny spt. They came back the next day. Since then they take all the food out of the 7 million green bags and leave with yhem. I'm home, so it's not a problem. I do end up with a lot of plastic bags though...
1
What about all the packaging waste in Trader Joe's produce and prepared foods? This concerns me more than a recyclable cardboard box from Fresh Direct.
10
I use ShopRite for my online grocery delivery. All items come packaged in brown paper bags which I place in my recycling bin and regular supermarket plastic bags which ShopRite will accept as a return and they will recycle them. The service is a God-send since I'm physically handicapped. On the opposing side I am forced to use a mail order company, Express Scripts, for my prescriptions some of which require refrigeration. They come in huge styrofoam containers with ice bags. I try to use some of the styrofoam containers around the house (storage) but there is a limit. Non-refrigerated medicines come in huge plastic envelopes for tiny bottles. In other words, some companies are earth-friendly but others are not.
21
When I receive the too-large cardboard box from Amazon, it generally has polyethylene bubble wrap inside. I can recycle all that. But others use polystyrene foam, which is not recyclable in most places. And then there are the vendors who pack stuff into opaque, foil-like plastic bags whose composition is unlabeled, so my recycling center won't take them.
As long as we all can buy and use things whose external costs remain unpaid, such as polluting materials, the environment will just get worse and worse.
As long as we all can buy and use things whose external costs remain unpaid, such as polluting materials, the environment will just get worse and worse.
12
Living in the suburbs, AmazonFresh is still not available to us. But I can "online" grocery shop at lunch time and stop at the grocery store on my way home, without going out of my way and with no need for shipping or freezer packs. So this is a service I'm not sure we'd ever use ... although I do occasionally order food items I can't find locally from Amazon, but they are not "fresh" things.
But just yesterday, we received an order from Amazon that included 3 laundry baskets. Each of these $11 items was shipped individually in its own large box. We do recycle our cardboard, but this seemed pretty unnecessary. While I realize that items ship from different warehouses -- I found it hard to understand why three of the same items had to be sent separately.
But just yesterday, we received an order from Amazon that included 3 laundry baskets. Each of these $11 items was shipped individually in its own large box. We do recycle our cardboard, but this seemed pretty unnecessary. While I realize that items ship from different warehouses -- I found it hard to understand why three of the same items had to be sent separately.
7
Good Eggs which is an online farmers market and delivers in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New Orleans, and here in New York City has an excellent repackaging and recycle program. I feel no shame or unease with their packaging.
2
I am so glad to see this article. As someone who makes sure to bring my own bags to the grocery store, I have been really frustrated to have one Amazon order arrive in 4 different boxes (and yes, with tons of unneeded packaging inside). If there was a company that had this figured out, I'd hop over to them in a heartbeat. In the meantime, I am considering going back to buying everything at a brick and mortar store. (Also, I agree re: how terrible those meal delivery services are. A friend signed me up for one and amount of packaging waste was criminal).
16
I've been using Instacart for some time now. Initially they actually provided their own reusable bags. Now they tend to use the paper bags the stores provide - so they're not using any cardboard boxes, plastic packaging, etc. I also think at times their shoppers buy groceries for multiple customers during one stop at the store and then deliver orders in one go. So they actually save on fuel etc. by running the shopping errand for various families during one trip to the grocery store.
3