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Amazon is the source of so much garbage in my building I associate them with land fills and disgust. They gave me a free subscription for 6 months. A couple or

by spodek 9y ago

Amazon is the source of so much garbage in my building I associate them with land fills and disgust. They gave me a free subscription for 6 months. A couple orders was enough to decide never again. So much garbage and packaging. Unconscionable to me.

mrep 9y ago
Most of their packaging is recyclable and 1 delivery driver can make an efficient route delivering goods to hundreds of people. The alternative is having everyone drive to retail stores which is super carbon intensive and then you still end up with the same packaging minus the cardboard box (which is recycled anyways). Sounds like you are the one being unconscionable to me
- luddaite 9y ago
  Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Amazon use more packaging materials than brick and mortar stores? They have to box up the items which would otherwise be in their own boxes. Also the brick and mortars would probably do a better job of recycling/disposing of packaging.
  - Broken_Hippo 9y ago
    " Also the brick and mortars would probably do a better job of recycling/disposing of packaging." That doesn't hold true everywhere. Recycling for me is easy. The city gives me a trash can for paper products, and another for plastic. But in the states, it was always spotty. I lived in a little town with no curbside recycling, and I didn't have a car. There was never a real push for recycling most places I lived in the states, and most states offer zero cash back for empty bottles and cans (it greatly increases the number of them recycled). Here (Norway) I can simply put them into a machine in the grocery stores, though some aren't accepted. On top of that, commercial trash is quite a bit different. City dwellers usually pay for trash removal through taxes. The businesses, though, pay for it themselves. Most are motivated to recycle their cardboard because the company pays them to pick up trash. (plastic and other similar things just go in the trash). Now, lets consider Amazon. They have a bit more in common with a factory than a brick and morter. Some of their stuff isn't in their control to recycle, though they could offer returnable packages. The rest, though, is doable. After all, some factories send absolutely nothing to a landfill (Subaru in Lafayette, Indiana is one of those). I'm pretty sure something similar can happen at Amazon if they had the right incentive. They'd already have the trash incentive brick and mortar stores have.
  - scintill76 9y ago
    I agree. Unless your brick and mortar store puts every 4-5 items into their own cardboard box with padding and tape, then a typical Amazon habit is using way more material. Unless I'm missing something, GP's point is obviously true... Even if a high percentage of Amazon packaging gets recycled, that's more wasteful than just not using it for shipping, right? Then, we get into the relative carbon footprint of people driving to the store, and as others have pointed out, that could be marginally low when you consider they are already at the store, or are out and about for other reasons.
- themoat 9y ago
  I think it's likely that the person you responded to has a fairly negative idea of consumerism in general, if I may interpret his comment a little more softly. I think it's fair to say that Amazon promotes consumption, and lots of places in the world just consume too much.
- woolvalley 9y ago
  I agree, a lot of the waste that retail stores create is a bit of an 'out of sight, out of mind' situation.
- BeetleB 9y ago
  >The alternative is having everyone drive to retail stores which is super carbon intensive For regular household items (soap, supplies, etc) - which many buy using Amazon Prime, you're really not saving gas by buying on Amazon, as you likely go to these stores anyway to buy groceries, etc.
- stordoff 9y ago
  Generally I agree, but it's definitely an area Amazon could improve on at times. They recently shipped me a 60cm steel rule in a box that was roughly 70cmx40cmx10cm.
WalterBright 9y ago
Before Amazon, going to the mall to get something cost me inevitably 2-4 hours. With Amazon it's 5 min. I don't think I buy more stuff, either. Amazon is also great if I want to send someone a gift. No more long waits in line at the post office.

by spodek 9y ago

mrep 9y ago

Most of their packaging is recyclable and 1 delivery driver can make an efficient route delivering goods to hundreds of people. The alternative is having everyone drive to retail stores which is super carbon intensive and then you still end up with the same packaging minus the cardboard box (which is recycled anyways). Sounds like you are the one being unconscionable to me

luddaite 9y ago
Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't Amazon use more packaging materials than brick and mortar stores? They have to box up the items which would otherwise be in their own boxes. Also the brick and mortars would probably do a better job of recycling/disposing of packaging.
- Broken_Hippo 9y ago
  " Also the brick and mortars would probably do a better job of recycling/disposing of packaging." That doesn't hold true everywhere. Recycling for me is easy. The city gives me a trash can for paper products, and another for plastic. But in the states, it was always spotty. I lived in a little town with no curbside recycling, and I didn't have a car. There was never a real push for recycling most places I lived in the states, and most states offer zero cash back for empty bottles and cans (it greatly increases the number of them recycled). Here (Norway) I can simply put them into a machine in the grocery stores, though some aren't accepted. On top of that, commercial trash is quite a bit different. City dwellers usually pay for trash removal through taxes. The businesses, though, pay for it themselves. Most are motivated to recycle their cardboard because the company pays them to pick up trash. (plastic and other similar things just go in the trash). Now, lets consider Amazon. They have a bit more in common with a factory than a brick and morter. Some of their stuff isn't in their control to recycle, though they could offer returnable packages. The rest, though, is doable. After all, some factories send absolutely nothing to a landfill (Subaru in Lafayette, Indiana is one of those). I'm pretty sure something similar can happen at Amazon if they had the right incentive. They'd already have the trash incentive brick and mortar stores have.
- scintill76 9y ago
  I agree. Unless your brick and mortar store puts every 4-5 items into their own cardboard box with padding and tape, then a typical Amazon habit is using way more material. Unless I'm missing something, GP's point is obviously true... Even if a high percentage of Amazon packaging gets recycled, that's more wasteful than just not using it for shipping, right? Then, we get into the relative carbon footprint of people driving to the store, and as others have pointed out, that could be marginally low when you consider they are already at the store, or are out and about for other reasons.
themoat 9y ago
I think it's likely that the person you responded to has a fairly negative idea of consumerism in general, if I may interpret his comment a little more softly. I think it's fair to say that Amazon promotes consumption, and lots of places in the world just consume too much.
woolvalley 9y ago
I agree, a lot of the waste that retail stores create is a bit of an 'out of sight, out of mind' situation.
BeetleB 9y ago
>The alternative is having everyone drive to retail stores which is super carbon intensive For regular household items (soap, supplies, etc) - which many buy using Amazon Prime, you're really not saving gas by buying on Amazon, as you likely go to these stores anyway to buy groceries, etc.
stordoff 9y ago
Generally I agree, but it's definitely an area Amazon could improve on at times. They recently shipped me a 60cm steel rule in a box that was roughly 70cmx40cmx10cm.

WalterBright 9y ago

Before Amazon, going to the mall to get something cost me inevitably 2-4 hours. With Amazon it's 5 min. I don't think I buy more stuff, either. Amazon is also great if I want to send someone a gift. No more long waits in line at the post office.