When an online order arrives at your house in a frankly obscene amount of packaging, it can be mildly infuriating.
Luckily, there's a whole Reddit thread dedicated to this feeling where you can vent your frustrations.
An 18-second video (embedded below) was posted to the r/mildlyinfuriating subreddit showing one recipient peeling back layers of cardboard to eventually expose the tiniest baggie containing four rubber feet intended for a laptop.
The outer material from the Microsoft order must have been at least 20 times as large as the item itself, and the Redditor was clearly dismayed by the "sheer amount of waste" in the package.
"I'm sure a shipping envelope would have kept them plenty safe," the irritated customer noted.
"I thought it was a laptop or something and I was like oh, well, yeah, you don't want it coming broken," one commenter said. "But when I saw that tiny little thing…"
"There should be a LAW against that," another added.
While the amount of cardboard was clearly unnecessary, other users observed the situation could have been much worse.
"The good news is that it's all cardboard, which is recyclable and biodegradable," one Redditor added. "None of that styrofoam peanut s***."
The Environment Protection Agency (EPA) has said that 82.2 million tons of containers and packaging waste was generated in 2018. The recycling rate of these products was just 53.9%, with 7.4 million tons being combusted and 30.5 million tons being sent to landfill sites.
Among the wider total was 14.5 million tons of plastic packaging, with 69% sent to landfill — where it would have contributed to the creation of methane, a planet-warming gas more potent than carbon dioxide.
The Environmental Defense Fund's Supply Chain Solutions Center noted that every piece of plastic ever made remains on planet Earth.
Some have been broken down into microplastics, a material of rising concern because they easily enter the bodies of humans and animals and can lead to significant health issues. Other plastics are dumped or have been washed into oceans, where they can be ingested by marine animals.
Fortunately, no plastic was found in this package. Otherwise, the situation might have been upgraded to "ridiculously infuriating."
The sheer amount of waste in this package sent by Microsoft
byu/jaydogn inmildlyinfuriating
Join our free newsletter for cool news and actionable info that makes it easy to help yourself while helping the planet.
Cool Picks
