Is Online Shopping Bad for the Environment?

by GreenAndGrumpy
September 17, 2020
0 comments

We are shopping online more and more, and the COVID-19 pandemic has only increased that trend. In August, online sales increased 42% over the same time last year. All kinds of over-consumerism are bad for the environment, but sometimes you do need to buy something. And when you do, it’s difficult to know whether shopping in the store is better than having items shipped directly to your house. So is online shopping bad for the environment?

I did a bit of research on this and found a few different studies that gave conflicting results. This article on CNN said that going to a physical store is more eco-friendly than having something shipped to your door. On the other hand, this article on Exploring the Problem Space looks at a couple studies that show that online shopping and delivery uses less energy and emissions than traditional retail shopping. So which is it?

Part of the reason for the discrepancies is due to how many factors go into determining the “eco-friendliness” of a shopping method. Primarily, the differences are in the energy and emissions created from packaging, transportation and storage. There are also differences between online ordering a single pair of shoes from a faraway seller versus ordering a bunch of necessities that will ship from a store that is nearer your home.

Tips for More Eco-Friendly Shopping

The bottom line is that shopping online isn’t necessarily worse than shopping in person at a store, it all depends on how much you’re buying at a time, how far you live from the nearest store that carries the item you need and how much driving you would need to do to get everything. Here are some basic guidelines.

When and how to shop online:

If you live in a more remote location far from stores, it’s often better to shop online. How far is considered far? Hard to say exactly, but the Department of Transportation reports that most Americans make a round trip of 14 miles when they shop. So if you have to drive considerably more than that, online shopping may actually be a more eco-friendly option for you.
If there is only one specific item that you need from a given store, you may be better off buying online also. A delivery truck dropping off packages for 100 people is usually more energy-efficient than 100 people driving to stores to buy them.
Skip the next-day shipping. Unless you absolutely, urgently need an item immediately, opt for the slower standard shipping. Same-day and next-day shipping means more trips and smaller shipments of fewer items, which contributes to greater energy being used and more carbon emissions.
If you find an item for sale from multiple sellers, all other things being equal, choose the retailer who ships from a location closer to you.
When you do get packages shipped to your house, be sure to recycle those boxes, recycle the plastic wrap and see if you can reuse or recycle the styrofoam as well.
Offset your emissions. There is a new service called EcoCart that can help you offset the greenhouse gas emissions generated by your purchases. Learn more about EcoCart here.

When and how to shop at a physical store:

For items that you’re likely to need to return, buy from a physical store if you can. This includes hard-to-fit clothing like pants and shoes, items where the color needs to be a very specific match, and so on. Having to return and ship items back and forth isn’t an efficient use of fuel and packaging.
If an item is available at a store you would be going to for other items anyway, buy it there. It doesn’t make sense to go to Target once a week for milk and bread, and then buy your toiletries online.
When you go to the store, make a list of everything you need and stock up. Make a few store trips for lots of needed items rather than weekly or daily trips to get a few things here and there.
Combine shopping trips. Hit all the stores you need to while you are in a given shopping area so you don’t need to go back any more often than necessary.

A note on packaging:

The excess packaging from online shopping gets a lot of the scrutiny when it comes to considering how environmentally damaging our consumption habits are. But if our biggest concern is emissions and energy consumption, and I personally think that has to be the priority given the climate crisis we are in, it’s important to note that there is considerably more energy used by you driving to and from the store than there is in the creation of that packaging.

So more packaging isn’t always the biggest factor in whether a given product or buying method is more or less environmentally friendly than another option.