A shopper who ordered a pair of work pants was left with a conundrum after they received an irritating surprise with their purchase.
What's happening?
In Reddit's r/Anticonsumption, the shopper posted a photo showing that their work pants arrived in a cardboard box and wrapped in a sheet of paper and three different plastic pieces.
The original poster didn't say which retailer they ordered their pants from, but one commenter believed that the issue originated with the supply chain itself.
"Every time a product passes through another distributor, they add more branding, more packaging, more waste, just so each middleman can justify their markup," they wrote. By the time it gets to you, it's been bagged and boxed half a dozen times for no good reason."
Why is this important?
The packaging was an inconvenience, as one Redditor noted: "The virgin materials were completely unnecessary — but it's there now, and unfortunately, the consumer's issue."
However, the problem goes beyond that. While you can generally recycle or compost cardboard boxes and tissue paper, the overwhelming majority of plastics are derived from dirty fuels and aren't easily recycled, taking generations to break down.
According to the University of Colorado Boulder, simply extracting and transporting fossil fuels to plastic factories produces up to 137.8 million tons of heat-trapping gases.
Add in pollution from refinement, landfills, and deforestation — as well as the impacts associated with unregulated litter and chemical contamination — and every part of the plastic life cycle is clearly a highly polluting and environmentally damaging endeavor.
Are major retailers doing anything about this?
One commenter called out Amazon as a distributor guilty of going overboard with its packaging. While the OP didn't confirm whether Amazon was the culprit in this case, other users haven't been shy about criticizing the retail giant for its shipping practices.
To that end, Amazon has introduced initiatives to reduce the packaging consumers receive, including shipping items in their original packaging when possible. When you are deciding whether to buy an item from an online distributor, look to see whether it offers a similar program.
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Giving me money back 💰 How can I reduce plastic waste more broadly?
Forgoing plastic products is one of the simplest and most cost-effective steps to take. You could switch to silicone food containers in lieu of plastic sandwich bags or shop with reusable grocery bags rather than purchasing new plastic bags at checkout.
As CU Boulder explains, more than half of all plastic produced is for single-use items, so small actions can collectively lead to meaningful change.
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