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by leonk 2318 days ago
Amazon pretty much sets the standard for this. They're the biggest ecommerce home delivery company, and yet have absolutely nothing in the way of reducing waste, and give the customer no option or control to do so. The _only_ thing they do is allow you to group deliveries (in case you want everything at once) which has the side-effect of reducing carbon emissions by the delivery van.

And don't even get me started about Prime.
1 comments
fmajid 2318 days ago
They do offer the frustration-minimizing packaging program, which is less wasteful, but manufacturers have to opt in.

Here in the UK, Ocado (a home shopping delivery firm) will take back the plastic bags your shopping came in. Now that Amazon is handling an increasing proportion of its own deliveries, it would be great if they adopted something similar and started using reusable shipping cartons like these when the client opts in:

https://liliputing.com/2020/01/this-box-with-an-e-ink-shippi...

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45ure 2318 days ago
>Here in the UK, Ocado (a home shopping delivery firm) will take back the plastic bags your shopping came in.

They charge 5p per bag (as required by law), which you cannot opt-out of. You might as well use it as a bin-liner, as the cheapest version costs around similar price. These bags are unlikely to get reused, when you return them, due to any cross-contamination issues e.g. bag for poultry (campylobacter) reused for loose produce.

An excerpt from their faq's:

Can I choose to not have my shopping delivered in bags?

We can't eliminate bags from our deliveries just yet. Packing them in separate bags for your fridge, cupboard and freezer is a really important part of making sure your groceries arrive in tip-top condition.

How much will I get charged for bags in my order?

The legislation states that big retailers must charge at least 5p for single-use plastic carrier bags.

So, as of 5th October 2015, we will be charging 5p for carrier bags used to pack your shopping. How much you are charged will vary depending on the size of your order, but we will only charge you for the exact number of bags used – there is no fixed charge. If it takes five bags to safely pack your order you'll be charged 25p. If it takes 6 bags, it'll be 30p. It's that simple.

The total amount charged for bags will be shown on your receipt.

https://www.ocado.com/webshop/scontent/customerServicesFAQ#

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leonk 2318 days ago
Ocado also have the “eco delivery” feature, where you can pick a delivery slot when (I presume) the driver will be making a similar delivery nearby.

It’s not a huge thing, but shows they are doing something (either that or they understand their middle-class market).

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