Megan Hall: Welcome to Possibly, where we take on huge problems like the future of our planet and break them down into small questions with unexpected answers. I’m Megan Hall.
These days, we can buy almost anything we want online—fancy food, designer clothes, new computers, the works. But is all this online shopping creating more greenhouse gas emissions compared to shopping in-person?
We had Luci Jones and Ashley Junger from our Possibly Team look into it. Welcome, Luci and Ashley!
Luci Jones: Hi, Megan!
Ashley Junger: Hello!
Megan Hall: So how do you determine if it creates more greenhouse gas emissions to buy a product in a store or have it delivered?
Luci Jones: This is a tricky question since every industry is different.
Ashley Junger: So, we talked with Stephen Kemper, a retired supply chain partner at PwC, to learn more. He told us that there are three main factors to consider.
Stephen Kemper: One is the space sufficiency of transportation.
Luci Jones: This basically means we want to know if a vehicle is holding as much as it possibly can. If it is, then it doesn’t need to travel back and forth as much.
Stephen Kemper: The second one is the return rate.
Ashley Junger: Which is basically the percentage of merchandise that’ll be returned.
Luci Jones: And lastly, Stephen says you’ve got to think about packaging.
Megan Hall: Okay…but this is all very abstract. Can you give me a real example?
Luci Jones: Well, let’s say you want to buy your weekly groceries.
Ashley Junger: Most food distribution sites are local and can pack multiple orders into a single vehicle.
Luci Jones: And the return rate is low because most people just eat their food or throw it out. So for groceries, Stephen says…
Stephen Kemper: E commerce make sense unless, for some reason you’re just driving by the store every day.
Megan Hall: So should we just start buying everything online?
Luci Jones: Not so fast. Remember, every industry is different.
Ashley Junger: For instance, most clothing stores only have a couple of distribution centers, meaning they have to travel longer distances to get your orders to you.
Luci Jones: And many clothing companies only have a few standardized box sizes. So there’s usually going to be tons of unused, empty space.
Ashley Junger: And, returns are more common when people shop online. About 30% of all products ordered online are returned. But, purchases made in a store are only returned about 9% of the time.
Luci Jones: So Stephen says for most people, buying your clothes at the store will really cut down on emissions.
Megan Hall: Got it. So I should always buy groceries online and go to the store to get my clothes.
Luci Jones: Actually- in an ideal world, you’d order your clothes online, so you’d know what you were getting, and then pick them up in the store.
Ashley Junger: This way you’re sure the store will have what you want before you drive there.
Megan Hall: What about other things, like electronics, or cleaning supplies?
Ashley Junger: It all depends on those factors we mentioned before- how efficient is the transportation that gets the object to you? What is the packaging like, and how often does it get returned?
Luci Jones: So, if you need something, consider how you can get that product with the least amount of packaging and driving around!
Megan Hall: Got it! Thanks, Luci and Ashley!
That’s it for today. For more information, or to ask a question about the way your choices affect our planet, go to the public’s radio dot org slash possibly. Or subscribe to us wherever you get your podcasts.
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Possibly is a co-production of the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, Brown’s Climate Solutions Initiative, and the Public’s Radio.
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