PHOENIX — With the holiday season upon us, the ABC15 Investigators are putting major retailers' sustainable shipping policies to the test after some shoppers complain that little items are still being sent in large boxes.
According to the Shopify-Gallup Holiday Shopper Pulse poll, nearly half of shoppers say they will be buying most of their gifts online this year.
The arriving delivery trucks and packages can put a strain on landfills, recycling centers, air quality, and roads.
Brenda Weems posted on social media about the big boxes coming from an online drug store when she ordered small items like eye drops and non-slip socks earlier this year.
“This isn't funny,” Weems said. “Look at all the waste.”
In October, Ashley Metelski also posted online after making a bulk purchase from her Target baby registry.
“We ordered three laundry detergents, five baby lotions, five baby powders,” Metelski said. “Almost everything came in individual boxes that was all ordered on the same day, all delivered on almost the exact same day.”
Metelski said she was happy to save 15% off her registry order, but said she was shocked that eight items would arrive in seven boxes instead of one big box.
“I don't know what the processes are, but it just seems like there's got to be a more environmentally friendly way to get items to consumers,” the new mom said.
ABC15 Tests Online Retailers:
Last week, the ABC15 Investigators ordered the same small item, a pack of 8 AA batteries, from five of the largest online retailers.
We chose the batteries for several reasons. They can be purchased online from Amazon, Walmart, Target, Best Buy, and Home Depot. Each retailer could have them delivered within days. The items were not fragile so they wouldn’t need a large amount of protective packaging.
We videotaped the delivery of each package, and then we compared their sizes and materials.
Best Buy sent the smallest package, which was a 9x7-inch, plastic, bubble mailer. Walmart and Amazon shipped their batteries in larger plastic bubble mailers, which included recycling instructions printed on the packaging. Target used the most packaging by sending the batteries in an 11x7x6-inch cardboard box with air-pillow plastic film cushioning inside. Home Depot was the only retailer to send a padded paper soft mailer, which contained no plastic and could be recycled from home like a cardboard box.
All five companies tout their sustainable shipping policies. Click the links to read more about each company’s plan:
Environmental Impact
“The less cardboard we can use, the better,” said J.B. Shaw, Recycling Coordinator at the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality.
Shaw tried to educate Arizonans on how to reduce, reuse, and recycle. He said some retailers are trying to reduce packaging for online orders.
“Some companies can right-size the boxes,” Shaw said. “Some companies will even forego that outside box, if, if the product that you're buying is boxed already.”
Consumers can also help by making more sustainable choices.
“I would prefer to just get one big one big box with all my items in it, and I would even be willing to wait a little longer if needed,” Shaw said.
The environmental cost of big boxes extends beyond the strain on landfills and recycling centers, according to Shashi Nambisan, director of the Transportation Research Center at UNLV’s College of Engineering.
Nambisan says neighborhood streets were designed for “one garbage truck a week, one recycling truck a week - these are the heaviest loads – and, perhaps, one or two smaller delivery vehicles a week.”
Bigger boxes or more boxes than needed fill up more delivery trucks faster. Those additional trucks add to pollution and cause more wear on the roads.
“We have designed [residential streets] to last 20 years, perhaps in 10 years we do an overlay,” Nambisan explained. “Now are experiencing the same traffic loading in four, five, or six years.”
Weems’ items were sent in boxes labeled Medline Industries, but she orders them through an online pharmacy affiliated with her insurance provider, Humana. Humana responded to questions about the big packaging with his statement:
"CenterWell Pharmacy, formerly known as Humana Pharmacy, provides our members with a safe and secure mail-delivery service for prescription drugs. CenterWell Pharmacy meets nationally endorsed standards of privacy, safety and security practices when it comes to delivering prescriptions and providing meaningful guidance to providers and customers. As a company, Humana is committed to the ESG goals outlined in our latest Impact Report, including reducing the amount of paper and packaging materials we send to our customers, and we work closely with our OTC suppliers to more efficiently ship their products to our members."
Weems said her most recent shipments have come in right-sized packaging.
ABC15 also reached out to Target directly about Ashley Metelski’s box complaint. We did not receive a response.
Contact ABC15 Investigator Melissa Blasius at Melissa.Blasius@abc15.com or 602-685-6362.
