Overflowing our landfills

[bucktalk]

I can't but wonder to what degree have landfills around the country have filled to overflowing due to the amount of packaging we use with so much
packaging be delivered at home. I'd be curious how much plastic and cardboard through UPS, Fedex, etc have contributed to increased waste. Home
delivery might be handy but it's probably causing problems as well.

[DBCooper]

some places like Mathis Bros furniture have on site waste reduction machines for all packaging foam that they use, which greatly reduces the space they fill.

[bucktalk]

True. But you wonder how much debris would residential delivery's alone contribute? Yikes!

some places like Mathis Bros furniture have on site waste reduction machines for all packaging foam that they use, which greatly reduces the space they fill.

[Midtowner]

Amazon reportedly has an 85 person team working on improving packaging with the goal of eliminating the cardboard box forever.

[Bullbear]

Amazon reportedly has an 85 person team working on improving packaging with the goal of eliminating the cardboard box forever.

they annoy me that they put a large bag of dog food in a huge box.. rather than label the bag and ship. the dog food company has changed packaging to make easier to ship according to the site but I still get a bag inside a box.

[OkiePoke]

Amazon is researching 'naked packaging' which would eliminate most boxes.

[baralheia]

Amazon is researching 'naked packaging' which would eliminate most boxes.

Amazon already does naked packaging on some products... but some don't really make sense. For instance, I ordered an 18-pack box of Clif bars last month, and Amazon just slapped a label on the product box and sent it out. Never mind that the box is made of paperboard like a cereal box... It split on two corners and had a bar poking out of one of the holes when it arrived. They also shipped my kitchen trash can naked - but that made sense, as the box and packaging was designed to withstand shipment like that.

Naked packaging makes sense on some things, certainly... especially if you're ordering case quantities of things, or large/bulky objects - but I honestly don't think the cardboard box will go anywhere. It's a necessity if we're shipping products directly to home, and ecologically far better than plastic/tyvek/etc packaging. I'd much rather see Amazon eliminate plastics - especially thin film plastics - in the goods they carry.

[jedicurt]

Amazon already does naked packaging on some products... but some don't really make sense. For instance, I ordered an 18-pack box of Clif bars last month, and Amazon just slapped a label on the product box and sent it out. Never mind that the box is made of paperboard like a cereal box... It split on two corners and had a bar poking out of one of the holes when it arrived. They also shipped my kitchen trash can naked - but that made sense, as the box and packaging was designed to withstand shipment like that.

Naked packaging makes sense on some things, certainly... especially if you're ordering case quantities of things, or large/bulky objects - but I honestly don't think the cardboard box will go anywhere. It's a necessity if we're shipping products directly to home, and ecologically far better than plastic/tyvek/etc packaging. I'd much rather see Amazon eliminate plastics - especially thin film plastics - in the goods they carry.

THIS!!!!

also glad to know that i'm not the only one that they just slap the label on Clif bars for... i have had one that apparently didn't make it, cause they had to cover it in tape

[emtefury]

I am not worried about it. There is plenty of land for landfill. Only about 3% of the land in the USA is developed.

[mugofbeer]

Amazon already does naked packaging on some products... but some don't really make sense. For instance, I ordered an 18-pack box of Clif bars last month, and Amazon just slapped a label on the product box and sent it out. Never mind that the box is made of paperboard like a cereal box... It split on two corners and had a bar poking out of one of the holes when it arrived. They also shipped my kitchen trash can naked - but that made sense, as the box and packaging was designed to withstand shipment like that.

Naked packaging makes sense on some things, certainly... especially if you're ordering case quantities of things, or large/bulky objects - but I honestly don't think the cardboard box will go anywhere. It's a necessity if we're shipping products directly to home, and ecologically far better than plastic/tyvek/etc packaging. I'd much rather see Amazon eliminate plastics - especially thin film plastics - in the goods they carry.

I'm not meaning this to sound snarky but if you don't like this, hop in or on your favorite mode of transportation and go to your favorite store for your box of Clif bars or your trash can. No torn box Clif Bar, no box on your trash can to dispose of - and it more directly supports your city's economy.

[BBatesokc]

I'm not meaning this to sound snarky but if you don't like this, hop in or on your favorite mode of transportation and go to your favorite store for your box of Clif bars or your trash can. No torn box Clif Bar, no box on your trash can to dispose of - and it more directly supports your city's economy.

I'm guessing, like me, they prefer the convenience (and usually lower prices) of click and ship. We have several things on 'subscribe and save' and they just automatically ship them weekly or monthly. I'll take the convenience of NOT getting into my favorite mode oof transportation and dealing with WalMart or some other retailer and usually paying more. Besides, you can usually provide feedback to the shipper about things like packaging. They get these things returned (at their expense) for baad packaging and the packaging will change.

I've noticed that more and more of the things we have shipped to us are not in additional packaging.

[bombermwc]

I'd like to see weekly recycling in OKC back too. The every 2 week things means if you miss a week, you are overflowing and things end up in the regular trash.

Packaging is the biggest part of trash in most houses. The plastics are what kill us...literally. Plastic wrapping is the worst because it can't go to the recycle pile, so guess where it ends up instead. I'd like to see companies move to waxed papers or something similar that's not plastic based so we can stop using so much of this junk. WalMart's bag recycling is not the norm and can only handle a limited range of items, but at least it's a start since theyre so much of the problem too.

[d-usa]

I like the German system for packaging with the Green Dot system.

The various participating companies pay the cost of recycling and waste disposal, so by minimizing packaging they minimize costs which then makes the product more competitively prices. There is a market incentive to cut down packaging that way.

[Joe Kimball]

I hope the economy in packaging doesn't get too crazy. For example, I'm a drummer, and have had occasion to buy cymbals at blowout prices from Amazon. Despite the fact that a cymbal is bronze, it's actually a somewhat brittle metal, and a little more wrapping than usual is necessary to protect the delicate, thin edges. Amazon only saw it this way on one occasion out of three purchases, with one cymbal rattling around in a large, flat box -- replete with a big gouge in the edge.

Given the unique nature of a cymbal (this one "sounded good"), I was reticent to replace it, but they did give something like a 60% discount upon complaint, and I was able to repair it, but with one-of-a-kind or delicate items (such as the Clif bars), some levity is needed.

[jedicurt]

I hope the economy in packaging doesn't get too crazy. For example, I'm a drummer, and have had occasion to buy cymbals at blowout prices from Amazon. Despite the fact that a cymbal is bronze, it's actually a somewhat brittle metal, and a little more wrapping than usual is necessary to protect the delicate, thin edges. Amazon only saw it this way on one occasion out of three purchases, with one cymbal rattling around in a large, flat box -- replete with a big gouge in the edge.

Given the unique nature of a cymbal (this one "sounded good"), I was reticent to replace it, but they did give something like a 60% discount upon complaint, and I was able to repair it, but with one-of-a-kind or delicate items (such as the Clif bars), some levity is needed.

i think it comes down to common sense, which sadly, many people are lacking

[jn1780]

I would personally like to send Amazon boxes back to Amazon. I know they could reuse them, I don't know if the boxes the city takes actually recycles them or not. Maybe Amazon should switch to crates for Prime members and the same Amazon driver that drops your stuff off/picks up your crate. Similar to how USPS leaves a mail crate with businesses.

[bombermwc]

I like that idea with the crates, and lets be honest. If we're prime members, we're going to order something again....and again....and again....

A regulatory thought......what if packaging is reviewed and a certain amount/type of packing is deemed acceptable and anything over that has to be eaten by the manufacturer/distributor and not passed on to the consumer (although im sure they'd just raise the price in some other way....always seems to be some way to cheat the rules). Is that too leftist? Only reason i bring it up is because we' not likely to see widespread cooperation from the business community unless something forces them to. And the customer base that wants this isn't as widespread as one might think in terms of the large corporate world. Only a few companies are doing things to try to do it "right" while the vast majority do not care.

[Thomas Vu]

Sorry for the bump on an old topic. I'm about to move into a house, and was wondering what is the state of OKC's recycling? Does it end up in a landfill anyway? If it does I'd like to save the monthly expense and extra step.