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Why hasn’t Amazon, Costco, or Walmart used their clout to effect a positive change? Have you seen all the plastic and unnecessary packaging in the goods they se
by hbarka 8y ago
Why hasn’t Amazon, Costco, or Walmart used their clout to effect a positive change? Have you seen all the plastic and unnecessary packaging in the goods they sell. The size of the packaging relative to the actual product is so ridiculous sometimes.
- BadassFractal 8y agoIt would be great if businesses decided to differentiate themselves from their competition by using biodegradable, environmentally friendly packaging. I wouldn't mind shopping with them instead, even at a slightly higher cost, just so that I as a consumer don't feel like I'm killing our marine life for no good reason.
- WalterBright 8y agoI would pay more to not get styrofoam peanuts. I once had a large garbage bag of them get caught by the wind and they blew all over the yard. It took a couple hours to pick them all up, as they'd dance away from my fingertips.
- inapis 8y agoI found that it barely helps. You end up being In a minority of a minority. Low prices will trump environment friendliness or even convenience sometimes.
- titanix2 8y agoDid you read the article? It says that "more than half of that waste comes from just five countries in East and Southeast Asia — China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam". All the companies you listed are irrelevant there.
- b3n 8y agoThese countries import waste from many other countries, including the US.
- nukeop 8y agoThey should start thinking about producing enough waste for themselves if they're unable to get by without imports, this creates a huge dependency on the US and most developed countries are completely self-sufficient when it comes to waste production.
- SupremeMeat 8y agoLOL I love your sense of humor!
- janekm 8y agoWell.. Walmart is a large chain of supermarkets in China, and Costco operate there too, so they're not entirely irrelevant (http://www.wal-martchina.com/english/walmart/index.htm http://www.wal-martchina.com/english/walmart/index.htm). Fortunately China has like many countries moved to forcing shops to charge for plastic bags so plastic bag waste has gotten a lot less bad in China at least.
- Ultramanoid 8y agoI routinely reply on Amazon's feedback that packaging was clearly excessive whenever I am given the change to do so. To receive a micro SD card in (1) a plastic container, inside a (2) cardboard container, inside an (3) A4 Amazon cardboard envelope is bordering criminal.
- chrisco255 8y agoCardboard is perfectly biodegradable to be fair.
- FooHentai 8y agoTrue, at least the stuff that's not glossed up with bonded plastic coating. Easy to DIY recycle at home, too. Makes good mulch for the garden, just flatten it out and lay it underneath whenever you put compost/soil down anywhere. Not so sure about the packing tape that inevitably comes with it.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- Ultramanoid 8y ago* chance
- RileyJames 8y agoI was in Walmart last night and they had no bags. I asked, “have you stopped providing bags now?” Fully expecting the answer to be yes, BYO only now. “No, we’ve run out of the paper bags. We’re switching to plastic bags tomorrow” Seriously? Wow.
- EGreg 8y agoStores should provide non plastic bags and give you a large discount for returning/reusing them.
- RileyJames 8y agoAgreed. But their latest option is going to be “reusable plastic bags”, which means stronger plastic bags, containing more plastic, which many customers will still treat as disposable. I’m confused as to how that’s a step forward. How fucking hard is it to use the trolley to move your goods to your car, and then into your cupboard? You managed to collect all the goods and get them to the register without any bags...
- inertiatic 8y agoIt's surely less convenient than paying for and using a cheap bag. Also, it would work in the specific situation you're describing (driving up to the store, parking back close to your house), but it doesn't really help in a lot of other use cases, so it can't be a universal solution.
- iainmerrick 8y agoI’m with you in principle, but to answer that last question -- quite hard? Getting the groceries into your car is easy, but the last step of carrying them into your kitchen is hard. Unless you take the trolley home.
- adrianN 8y agoSeems easy to make the bags expensive enough that consumers realize that they're supposed to be used multiple times.
- masonic 8y agoCostco probably uses the least packaging per unit of product of anybody, due to bulk packaging.
- riffraff 8y agoactually, I get all of amazon stuff in europe in cardboard boxes with paper fillings and thread+paper tape. Is it a european thing? Have I just been incredibly lucky?
- rootusrootus 8y agoThat's pretty common for Amazon-branded items. Everything else is up to the manufacturer.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- notacoward 8y ago> Why hasn’t Amazon, Costco, or Walmart used their clout to effect a positive change? That question practically answers itself. It's all about the money, and "using their clout to effect a positive change" would be less profitable.