One Redditor recently brought a common problem to light with packaging — it can be too much material for the order. In their Reddit post, the recipient showed a large empty box that shipped something as small as dog ear drops.
What happened?
A bottle of ear drops usually comes in a small bottle that won't even take up the palm of your hand. Yet, the tiny white ear drop box sat alone in a massive cardboard package that should have been saved for way more items, with this shipment being doable in a small envelope.
As the original poster wrote, "package is getting bad. You ordered ear drops for your dog and end up with something like this."
The customer didn't explicitly state where the package came from, but the comments assumed it was Amazon, partly due to the eye of a former employee. That person brought further insight into the reasoning behind the packaging waste from the company. While the mishap could have also been caused by employee error or computer controls, it may have been part of a policy.
Regarding such a policy, the ex-employee said: "We routinely were short on supplies. Policy was send it out so you find a way to make it work."
With a company that ships 1.6 million packages daily, according to MobiLoud, this type of waste is worrisome, especially if people don't dispose of it properly.
Why is avoiding overpacking important?
American landfills contained about 146 million tons of waste in 2018, and the country produced 292 million tons of trash, per the Environmental Protection Agency. Without intervention, the World Bank predicts the amount of worldwide trash will increase to 3.7 billion tons by 2050.
Most of that excessive packaging is thrown out, providing more fuel for landfills to release carbon and methane gases. Those gases contribute to an overheated planet with increasingly unpredictable and more destructive weather patterns, such as shortened or longer seasons that affect crops.
It's irresponsible for companies to put the onus of excessive packaging on customers who may be low on space or not understand their recycling options. Larger packages also affect the supply chain as they can be difficult to handle and increase production costs that may be passed on to customers.
Is Amazon doing anything about this?
Its PackOpt technology uses machine learning to determine the ideal package for items. Plus, the Ships In Product Packaging program allows items to go out in their original package — 11% did so in 2022, per CNBC. However, the Reddit incident was from four months ago, so there are still some blind spots with consistency.
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The way it looks 😍 What can I do to help reduce package waste?
Don't be afraid to use your creativity, just like other consumers have. One person made eco-friendly gift wrap from paper shopping bags. Follow one TikTok mom and turn those Amazon boxes inside out to reuse without the visible logo. Gardeners also use cardboard in compost and mulch lasagnas to nourish their soil and plants.
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