LOVE AMAZON BUT HATE THE PACKAGING WASTE? TRY THIS HACK TO REDUCE PLASTIC AND EXCESSIVE PACKAGING USED IN YOUR AMAZON DELIVERIES
Attention Amazon shoppers! Do you love the convenience of online shopping, but hate all the packaging and plastic waste it creates? Check out this simple hack that can reduce the amount of plastic and packaging used in your Amazon deliveries.
Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, I had been trying to kick my Amazon habit because it turns out Amazon is terrible for the environment. You mean one-day delivery of a product originally shipped from China and packaged in a box five times its size has a giant carbon footprint? I can’t say I was shocked to hear it.
It turns out that Amazon’s emissions compare to a large power company: 44.4 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. They exceed those of companies like UPS, FedEx, Apple, Microsoft, and Target (although they are 38% less than Walmart’s emissions). Amazon’s next- and two-day delivery options exacerbate the emissions problem. It turns out that carbon emissions can be as much as 35 times greater than they would be with a one delivery drip than for a fully loaded delivery.
Emissions aren’t the only problem with Amazon shopping. As people have humorously pointed out on Reddit, Amazon is a waste-generating nightmare.
For all those reasons and more, I had been trying to avoid Amazon as much as possible and shop locally. Enter Covid-19.
Like others, G, V, and I have largely been homebound for the duration of the pandemic. As a result, we’ve relied heavily on Amazon deliveries for groceries and other items. I’ve tried to minimize the emissions and packaging associated with my Amazon deliveries by always choosing delivery on my Amazon day and trying to consolidate orders, but the packaging is still excessive. Even though I try to reuse packaging, I still end up recycling and/or throwing away so much of it.
That’s why I was so excited to hear about this simple hack to eliminate plastic packaging and reduce the overall amount of packaging from Amazon deliveries. Of course, this doesn’t do much to reduce emissions, but it will generate less plastic and other waste, which is a worthy goal.
Here’s how to do it:
Log in to your Amazon account.
Click “Customer Service” on the menu at the top of the page.
Scroll to the bottom of the page where it says “Browse Help Topics” and click the last option, “Need More Help?” Three choices will pop up to the right; click “Contact Us” which will open a new page.
On the new page, click the yellow button that says “Start Chatting Now” which will open a chat window.
When the chat window comes up, ask for all your future orders to contain minimal and plastic free packaging. I sent the following message:
“Hi, I’d like to request that all my future orders are plastic free with minimal packaging. Please use only degradable packaging materials like paper.”
The automated response didn’t understand at first, but within a couple minutes, I was redirected to an associate who was able to help. The associate said my request would be implemented within 7-10 business days.
The whole procedure took less than ten minutes. I may still get plastic packaging every now and then, but even if it saves a little plastic and other packaging, it was worth ten minutes of my time.
Others who have done this have reported that their customer service associate didn’t understand the request at first or wasn’t aware that this was an option. Apparently asking to speak with another Amazon representative worked for these people.
Happy shopping, and let me know whether this hack worked for you.
And cheers to San Diegans Against Single-Use Plastic for the tip!