E-commerce has revolutionized the way we buy our products, offering convenience and accessibility with a few clicks. However, behind this seamless experience, exists a significant environmental cost, particularly when it comes to the return of e-commerce products. A recent report from CleanHub sheds light on the alarming environmental impact of online shopping returns, revealing staggering figures of packaging waste and CO2 emissions. As more and more consumers and businesses turn to online platforms, it is crucial to understand and address the environmental consequences of this growing trend.
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Online Shopping vs Traditional Shopping
While traditional shopping may contribute more emissions overall, online shopping generates a higher volume of returns and varies by industry, reaching as high as 40 %. At the same time, returns account for just 5-10 % of all in-store purchases because the process isn’t as easy for consumers.
Moreover, the report indicates that online shopping returns lead to nearly five times more packaging waste compared to returns for in-person stores. On the other hand, retailers’ encouragement for consumers to use additional packaging materials during the return process, also adds further to the mounting-waste problem.
The Process of Online Returns
Transportation logistics, associated with returns, contribute to emissions and consequently climate change as well, while, a lot of times, the process of returning online purchases may involve additional shipping and packaging, leading to increased emissions and waste. Additionally, some products must be cleaned, re-packaged, or repaired, further increasing the energy required (also referred to as reverse logistics).
Discarding Rather Than Reselling
CleanHub mentions that retailers in the United States have disposed over 9.5 billion pounds of returned products in 2022, which, as the report analyzes, seemed more cost-effective than trying to resell their products. US retailers are calculated to have lost $816 billion to returns processes in the same year, with most of them during the holiday season, at which point it is estimated that approximately 1 million returns are made every single day.
The Fashion Industry
Many returned items, as mentioned earlier, are discarded by retailers due to the high cost of processing returns. The fashion industry, in particular, struggles with reselling lightly worn or damaged items, leading to significant waste.
With an average return rate of 30 %, online shopping surpasses in-store purchases in the frequency of returns. Fast fashion and ‘wardrobing’ practices (buying a garment for short-term use and returning it under false claims for a full refund) emerge as significant contributors to high return rates, leading to increased emissions and landfill accumulation of packaging and other types of waste, as returned products often end up discarded rather than resold.
Fueled by the rise of the aforementioned fast fashion, clothing returns alone release the same emissions as 3 million cars in the US, as the report mentions.
Rethinking E-Commerce Practices
CleanHub’s report underscores the need for sustainable reforms in the e-commerce sector. Both consumers and businesses play a pivotal role in mitigating the environmental impact of returns.
The most effective way, for customers to reduce the effects of online returns seems to be the total avoidance of returning items needlessly, since merely 20 % of online purchases are returned due to damage.
As for businesses, educating customers on the impact of their returns and how to reuse packaging when returning their products, but also swapping plastic packaging for more sustainable materials or reducing the size of packages can similarly have an important impact on a company’s return waste and emissions.
Conclusion
Online returns present both a challenge and an opportunity for positive change. By prioritizing sustainability and raising awareness, businesses and consumers can contribute to a greener e-commerce industry. Addressing the environmental impact of online returns requires collective action and a shift in consumer and retailer behavior, in order to improve the return process with sustainable practices.
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