According to a study by the sustainable packaging company, DS Smith, more than 41 million cubic meters of air reach Spanish homes each year due to unnecessary packaging, which would be equivalent to almost 11,000 Olympic swimming pools.
As the price of raw materials increases across industries, oversized boxes and boxes containing excess material are causing more than 2 million unnecessary delivery tripswhich represents 61,973 tons of potentially avoidable CO2 emitted into the atmosphere each year.
DS Smith’s study reveals that oversized cardboard boxes they transport this excess air in trucks and in shipments to consumers’ homes unnecessarily. Only taking into account the containers that arrive at the approved recycling plants, are generated:
- 82,015 tons of unnecessary cardboard.
- 217 million square meters of precinct – more than a third of the area of Madrid capital.
- 38 million cubic meters of fill per year – enough to fill the WiZink Center 242 times.
In addition to the environmental impact generated by oversized cardboard boxes, this has a negative effect on the brand image. When receiving a package with too much packaging, almost 20% of consumers say they have felt frustration towards the brand and 17% would consider buying from that brand again.
Regarding the expectations of consumers for the future, those surveyed declare that they would like to receive packaging from alternative renewable sources (57%)packaging that fits well to products with irregular shapes (41%) and packaging that is resistant to water (36%).
According to the DS Smith study, each month more than 81 million packages are shipped through online purchases. In addition, it has been discovered that almost a quarter of the companies that sell their products online admit to using oversized packaging often, however, more than half focus their efforts on recyclability (46%) and almost 30% on reusability. .
Ignacio Montfort, Managing Director at DS Smith Iberia has pointed out: “Online consumers demand less packaging. It is time to remove the excess air from e-commerce purchases since, on the one hand, raw materials are more expensive than ever and, on the other, the benefits for the environment are significant”.
“Materials are not accidentally wasted, waste is generated based on decisions made during the design phase. The role that design plays in protecting the planet cannot be overemphasized – we need to take a circular approach, minimizing waste and keeping materials in use for as long as possible.”
