Until you're in the shipping industry, it appears you have no idea of just how much overuse of plastic there truly is.

What's happening?

A Redditor who worked at a warehouse shared an example of what they deemed unacceptable to the r/Anticonsumption subreddit. 

"This clothing company always ships their freight in 2 inch thick plastic wrap," they shared. "It's so much! We get 2 to 5 shipments a week like this."

Indeed, the plastic wrap on display seems exorbitant for its purpose. Behind it, you can see a pallet in far less plastic. Even if it held a heavier pallet, it doesn't seem likely that it would need to be wrapped so many times over with the plastic on display.

Still, the amount of waste didn't seem to surprise one Redditor.

"First time working in a warehouse lol," they joked. While they're indicating that instances of this sort of plastic overload are common, that doesn't excuse the generated waste.

Why is plastic packaging waste important?

Single-use plastics are environmentally harmful because they take centuries to decompose. They are piling up in landfills and nature, where they contribute to planet-heating pollution.

During that process, they can spread harmful microplastics to far-flung places, such as our oceans. The microplastics are increasingly ending up in our bodies, groundwater, and food.

Packaging is a huge part of the problem. Pew Charitable Trusts' Breaking the Plastic Wave 2025 report noted that packaging represents one-third of overall plastic pollution, and that number is only growing.

Recycling and reusing plastic is often difficult to impossible and relies heavily on resource use and pollution. That's why so little of it, 5% to 6%, truly gets recycled, as CBS News detailed.

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Is the shipping industry doing anything about this?

In this instance, it seems nothing is being done about the clothing company's overuse of plastic in its shipping. A Redditor did point out that there are alternative ways to secure pallets without using nearly as much single-use plastic.

Governing bodies in Australia and the European Union are also trying to phase out single-use plastics as much as possible. They are putting in regulations that push companies to use biodegradable materials, more efficient packaging, and components that are more easily recyclable. 

With how cheap plastic currently is, it seems like governments will have to step in to nudge companies towards these goals.

What's being done about plastic pollution more broadly?

There are ways consumers can advocate for better packaging. Supporting companies that use responsible packaging and utilize eco-friendly options when available can help reduce plastic waste.

The Pew Charitable Trusts report advocates for a scheme they say could cut plastic packaging waste by 97%. The key aspects are reuse-and-return for plastics and eliminating the hardest-to-recycle types.

Creating plastic alternatives is a growing field with a number of efforts worldwide. There are also scientists hard at work finding ways to break down plastics more efficiently using new technologies.

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