From the first-ever outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic here in the Philippines up until the present time, the demand for e-commerce has always been increasing. Not only locally, but globally as well; considering the situation right now, the reach of e-commerce is not only the ‘tech-savvy’ ones but also the general population. Since a large portion of the population finds physical stores ‘risky’, a lot of us opt for online shopping instead. And as we enter this month of February, left and right sales are definitely snooping around us with all these online buying platforms such as Shopee and Lazada. Enormous online sales worldwide and in China, such as Singles’ Day or Double 11 has recorded an amount of 540.3 billion yuan or USD 84.4 billion in sales (Igini, 2021). These shopping “events” push buyers to splurge and buy more; which may result in a large number of packages. All these promos and sales look promising but have we ever wondered how it is affecting our environment? Is online shopping eco-friendly?
A lot of us indeed had gotten used to online shopping especially during the lockdown; everyone loved the convenience. One may think that online shopping is a lot greener than in-store shopping. Online shops do not use electricity, customers do not have to drive anywhere to get what they need, carbon footprints are lesser, orders conducted online are delivered to several homes all at once; but that is not always the case.
Here is why it may not be as ‘green’ as one may think:
Between plastic packaging, carbon emissions and footprints, and returns of packages that are headed straight in the landfill, at what cost can all of these affect our environment?
Over-packaging / plastic packaging / returns
According to the estimates, Asia is set to account for 50% of the world’s total online retail sales, and most of these is from China; China is currently the world’s leading country by retail e-commerce sales (Abrams, 2021). The United States holds a percentage of 19% in e-commerce sales (Igini, 2021).
The issue of over-packaging or plastic packaging is having catastrophic consequences in our environment. Environmentalists warn that all the shopping spree comes at a significant cost to the environment. The packaging of the products contributes to carbon dioxide emissions from the production of plastics, pollution, and adding massive volumes of waste to landfills. According to the forest conservation group Canopy, roughly 3 billion trees are cut yearly to supply paper packaging demand globally, and it is estimatedly 241 million tons of shipping cartons. Also, there are 86 million tons of plastic packaging produced yearly, all for parcels.
Here in the Philippines, it was reported that parcels from online shopping brought phenomenal volumes of plastic wastes. An environmental advocacy group, Youth Strike 4 Climate Philippines (YSCP) launched a petition for the two biggest online buying platforms here— Shopee and Lazada asking them to “integrate zero-waste systems into their businesses” and that they need to initiate “sustainable practices” (Dela Pena, 2021). A total of 14,625 Filipinos participated in this campaign; it was also said both companies must reveal the estimated data of their wastes.
Greenpeace Philippines pointed out that problems with environmental impacts usually emerge since it only takes a couple of minutes for an individual to move plastic packaging from their hands to the trash bin. There is also no public data here in the PH regarding how much waste each e-commerce company produces. Most packaging wastes end up in landfills, which is left to decompose slowly. Parcels often come with a bubble wrap, and bubble wrap takes 10 to 1,000 years for it to decompose. It was also reported that the Philippines is the third largest contributor of plastic waste in the oceans, 20% of the 2.7 million tons of plastic waste every year ends up there (Dela Pena, 2021). Crispin Lao, head of the Philippine Alliance for Recycling and Materials Sustainability says that 70% of Filipinos do not have access to disposal facilities. Hence, Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) stated that within the 2 million tons of plastic waste here in the PH, 35% are thrown in the open, 33% are thrown in landfills and dumps, 16% are stored and used, and 9% are recycled. Both consumers and corporations are accountable for the wastes, however, corporations are accountable for all the needless plastic they end up producing. With every sale Lazada and Shopee hold, the environment is always at risk. The development of the e-commerce industry should not be at the expense of the environment.
Carbon Emissions
Another online shopping environmental impact to take into consideration is the shipping emission. E-commerce generates a huge portion of CO2 emissions. In 2020, about 37% of the total greenhouse gas emissions are from the global transportation, shipping, and returns of parcels or products (Igini, 2021). A study from MIT before stated that online shopping has a lesser carbon footprint than traditional or in-store shopping. However, this will only be valid if there are no returns, exchanges, and fast shippings. The emissions are far exceeding its supposed-to-be normal rate in online shopping.
As for the Philippines, GHG emissions remained relatively low (De Vera, 2021).
What can we do?
Be a responsible e-shopper. A silent pandemic has been progressing as we click “add to cart” in which the overloaded amount of plastic packaging waste gets thrown away once we receive our parcels (Chua, 2020). How do we really become more eco-friendly with our online shopping tendencies?
For buyers, they can reuse the plastic packaging from their parcels. And as much as possible, avoid unnecessarily separated orders.
For sellers, they can also reuse old packaging. Looking for alternatives rather than plastics is also recommended. Also, reduce the packaging while securing the item. Some items do not need a lot.
If you can spare a moment, sign the petition! (#breakfreefromplastic) → https://www.breakfreefromplastic.org/petition-for-18th-congress-ph/#:~:text=To%3A%2018th%20Congress%20of%20the,ban%20on%20single%2Duse%20plastic!&text=According%20to%20GAIA%2C%20more%20than,of%20daily%20in%20the%20country.
And while we take all these factors into consideration, we can come to the conclusion that online shopping is not as ‘green’ as one may think. Both companies and consumers have a responsibility to take, especially when we collectively have a certain goal: and that is to take good care of our environment, and to not contribute to its deterioration. The environmental impact of online shopping is not a factor to invalidate all the advantages it has brought to each individual. This is to raise awareness, and to remind everybody that all these advantages must not result in our environment being at risk.
References
Abrams, K.V. (July, 2021). These are the top global ecommerce markets. Insider Intelligence. https://www.emarketer.com/content/top-global-ecommerce-markets
Canopy (n.d.). Campaigns - Pack4Good. https://canopyplanet.org/campaigns/pack4good/
Chua, J. (November, 2021). Responsible E-shopping in the time of COVID. https://www.greenpeace.org/philippines/story/10202/responsible-e-shopping-in-the-time-of-covid/
De Vera, B. (November, 2021). PH adds only 0.3% to gas emissions but faces P506.1-B losses due to climate change. Philippine Daily inquirer. https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1509670/ph-adds-only-0-3-to-greenhouse-gas-emissions-but
Dela Pena, K. (October, 2021). Online shopping rise brings phenomenal volume of plastic wastes. Philippine Daily Inquirer. https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1502399/online-shopping-rise-brings-phenomenal-volume-of-plastic-wastes
Igini, M. (December, 2021). The Truth About Online Shopping and its Environmental Impact. EarthOrg. https://earth.org/online-shopping-and-its-environmental-impact/
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