See Andy's other stuff:

Contact Me >>

Is Amazon.com an environmental disaster?

HPIM2519 I love Amazon. I buy from them every week. I admire their management, skill, technology, innovation, etc.  As an author, they are absolutely fantastic, and I thank them every day for their support.  But …

I’m increasingly shocked by the amount of wasteful packaging in an Amazon shipment.

Sometimes I’ll get a book wrapped in a small cardboard sleeve … about as little waste as you can get and still get the package delivered.

But more often than not, I get a giant empty cardboard box, 5-6 plastic air fillers, plastic wrap around the book, a cardboard insert, and 4-5 flyers.

The last book I received had 3 pounds of waste.

This doesn’t even address the issue of whether or not mail-order is inherently wasteful (especially when you add fuel, etc.)

But Amazon needs to set a clear policy on packaging: Minimal necessary shipping material, every time.

If they continue with their current ways, I expect a green boycott very soon.

They get away with it because we love them. If Walmart tried to ship like that, we’d be screaming bloody murder.

[contact-form-7 id="27185" title="contact-form 3 TellAFriend-Post"]