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Tuesday 23 February 2021

Mail Order goods and their packaging - mostly bad!

packing peanuts  

The problem: 

Companies and private sellers that deliver products through the mail often over-package, putting a pre-boxed item in a second box, and sometimes even a third one. This practice, which Dancy calls the “Russian doll” approach, is exceedingly wasteful.

Who does it?  

Sellers on the eCommerce network, including eBay.

What is the solution?

One option is to use sustainable packing materials, rather than the traditional styrofoam. There are numerous sustainable options, including packing materials made from corn starch or sorghum, which can be composted. And New York-based Ecovative design has developed fungus-based packing materials that are being used by Dell, Crate and Barrel and Puma, among others.

Ed Kastenbaum, general manager of San Francisco-based The Packaging Store, and vice president of the Retail Packaging Association, packs with recycled pulp instead of Styrofoam when selling to wine shippers. Kastenbaum says that the pulp wine shippers are widely available. The market change started more than 10 years ago & now the vast majority of wine is shipped in this manner by wineries, wine clubs, and wine retailers.

I have however noticed that Amazon have changed the way they package their delveries, more paper and cardboard packaging, which is fantastic! Those polystyrene chips are a right nuisance,they get everywhere and for me unneccessary.  

As I have said before I do try and buy here on Menorca but sometimes it is impossible to get it here, so I have to buy online.  

Some nice person had actually dumped three cardboard boxes full of those polystyrene chips next to the recycling bins the other week, I didn´t realise that those chips actually jumped in all by themselves. I have been assured by the entity responsible for recycling here on Menorca that they can be placed in the yellow bin.

The blog song for today is: "Hold me now" by The Thompson Twins

TTFN

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