"Dear Amazon, what are you doing?" So begins a recent post by CindyW over at Organic Picks about an instance of extreme packaging by Amazon. The photo above shows the packaging used to send a single 1-cup Pyrex bowl (#5 in the photo). If this doesn't seem outrageous enough, Cindy writes that her husband ordered 4 1-cup Pyrex bowls and they each arrived separately with this amount of packaging!
This reminded me of an order we received a few months ago from Sears which contained such an astounding amount of styrofoam peanuts that we were prompted to write and complain. Since then we've been trying harder than ever to find things locally rather than have them shipped and we've also been keeping better tabs on companies whose packaging seems to be eco-conscious. So far we only have one company on our list: Powell's Books. We ordered an out-of-print children's book from Powell's which arrived padded between two pieces of corrugated cardboard which had been shaped to the size of the book. The book arrived safely and the cardboard was promptly recycled.
We'd like to know - can you add any retailers to our short list of eco-conscious packagers?
Read Cindy's full post at Organic Picks here.
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Comments (11)
No, I cant. Not only have I had the exact same lunatic treatment from Amazon/Target, but Z Gallerie shipped me 2 8.5x11" picture frames in a box big enough for a large toaster oven. When my super handed it over I almost fainted from shock.
Two wooden picture frames.
When you order books from Amazon, they (should) come in a wrapped in cardboard shell which fits snuggly over the book. This is how they arrive to me every time. But I agree that their normal packaging leaves much to be desired.
I just ordered 2 cds from kidzup.com and they came in a used corugated oreos box, folded to fit the cds. I promptly recycled my recycled packaging and was very pleased!
amazon is always double-packing its boxes. i really don't get that at all. BUT those air pocket things are great. so much better than peanuts. just pop them and recycle. then you break down the cardboard and recycle that. in the end, it's not so bad just a bit excessive. we use amazon a lot because we have a prime membership. they're prices on many things cannot be beat.
ugh, i can't believe i just used "they're" instead of "their". must get more sleep!
They pack books and media shrinkwrapped to a piece of cardboard usually, but amazon sends other items like curtains in individual boxes. Why on earth put each panel in a separate box with packing? But Z Gallerie took the cake with the frames.
I got a bath sponge (the kind you lay the baby in, shaped like a bear) from Babies R Us, shipped in its own box. A large box. At least there were no packing materials, but the fact that they put a sponge in its own box astounded me. A sponge. In its own box. Damn.
Nordstrom is terrible in regards to packaging! I ordered a bunch of makeup online and everything came separately and in huge boxes --I got an eyeshadow trio (couple inches round) in a box that could have fit an XBox game console!! I was so horrified that I wrote them a letter!
MoMA
I was impressed with the packaging on both the item I ordered from them this year. Packing was a small cardboard box and "styrofoam" peanuts were those starch based ones that you can compost, or will dissolve in your sink with some water. Actually pretty fun to watch too. We did a couple then composted the rest.
Best Buy Canada is prone to overpacking thing. You'd think that it'd be in the best interest of these companies to minimize the amount of packaging to reduce their shipping costs. Maybe they need to take a trip to the nearest IKEA and see how efficiently it's possible to pack things.
As a side note, I did spend a few years unloading trucks at a Sears Canada store and they were usually pretty minimal with the pre-consumer type packaging. Of course if you're shipping a container full of pillows from Indonesia, there's more money at stake if you pack efficiently. We also did a fair bit of long-distance shipping by rail. If we had to transfer a whole truck load of mechandise to a store a long way away, they'd send us an intermodal trailer, we'd load it, and they'd drive it to the local rail yard and put it on a train. I doubt that Sears was alone with their efficiency gains.
Gleek - can the plastic air pockets really be recycled where you are? That's great. I wish our recycling program here in NYC took them.
Signe - In years past the books I ordered from Amazon came in cardboard shells, but they've been coming in boxes for the past year or two. Maybe it's geography based? Good to know it's not Amazon's new policy everywhere.