THE DIRTY SIDE OF E-COMMERCE

The courier just arrived with a sack full of this-and-that to deliver to my office colleagues. A jar of face cream, a mobile phone charger, a scarf, a pair of funky boots . . . mostly things that they would have otherwise picked up on their way home, or during the weekend, but there was no time to shop. The sound of unpacking fills the air. Tape is ripped, outer plastic covers cut, cardboard boxes slit open, tissue paper and bubble wrap discarded. In a flash, their garbage bins are full.

Let’s examine this more closely. Every minute, there are 48,000 items sold on Taobao. The moment a sale happens, the vendor proceeds to wrap, and then wrap even more that small, individual piece of merchandise, so that it will survive the rough and tumble of the journey. An army of couriers kick start their bikes, still largely running on gasoline, and rush to pick up the order. They toss the boxes into sacks and deliver them to the logistics company for shipping. At the destination, another army of motorcyclists is waiting, engines throbbing, smoke spewing from their machines, to deliver the goods.

It’s a game of passing the parcel that has gone amok. In a study we did last year, 55% of the respondents said that their purchases were driven by convenience. Blinded by the numbing choice and convenience of the online shop, we are creating an environmental monster. Such is the allure of e-commerce for customers and entrepreneurs that it never occurs to them that the byproduct of their exchange, if unchecked and unregulated, will choke us to death. An article in People’s Daily earlier this year pointed out that 50% of all goods being sold in China were ‘excessively packaged’.

It is worth reminding ourselves about what the ‘old way’ of distributing products was. A shop owner, or supermarket manager estimated consumer demand and placed an order. When the manufacturer or distributor sent out the goods, no individual items were shipped. The items were already packed in boxes, making use of all available space; they were stacked tightly inside containers, without an inch being wasted and obviating the need for a cushion of extra packaging.

How did people shop? We drew up a list of things that we’d run out of, of expected to run out soon, and went to the store to buy it all together. Mostly. We still do, but this ability to satisfy our impulses through a few clicks is going to drown us all in a sea of bubble wrap and cardboard.

So what might be the solution? I have a couple of ideas.

- Have the courier take back the packaging trash. No sack comes back empty.The delivery company must be required to return the packaging waste to a central collection, sorting and recycling center.

- Standardize the box sizes, and place a minimum order requirement on purchases, based on size: purchases must fit into one small box / one medium box and so on. That way, space could be optimized, and the standard sized boxes can be re-used. Customers who return the boxes get a discount on their next purchase.

Perhaps readers, you may have some other useful ideas? Post your thoughts below.

— Kunal Sinha is the Chief Knowledge Officer at Ogilvy & Mather China, leading projects that uncover Asia’s dynamic cultural landscapes.