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We are taking a journey back in time this week, to a simpler period when people bought less and had the patience to wait for things. Yes, we are going to tackle our shopping habits. In order to get rid of the plastic, we have to stop the flow of these things into our homes in the first place.
Your first challenge is to look at your online shopping, which usually means Amazon. The overall goal should be to reduce your Amazon purchases, but let’s be real, we are all addicted to 2 day shipping and it is a hard habit to break. While you start to deal with your shopping infatuation (I’m still a recovering shopaholic), you will continue to accumulate plastic mailer bags and bubble wrap. There is a potential bandage for this.
Today’s Challenge: Ask Amazon to send you non-plastic packaging. This will take you less than 5 minutes.
- Log onto Amazon on your phone or computer and go to Customer Service.
- Click on “contact us” then “chat with us”.
- You may have to go thru a couple of quick questions, but then be sure to ask to talk to an associate.
- Request to “change all future orders to be plastic free and with minimal packaging”. The associate I communicated with told me that he could institute this immediately on my account.
That is it. I cannot guarantee that this will stop all plastic mailers and packaging from coming to you. Since I made the request, about 50% of the time I now get boxes or paper mailers that can be recycled and no plastic wrap in the box. If you do get plastic packaging see if it is recyclable at store drop off sites for plastic bags.
Please don’t forget that most of the things you are purchasing on Amazon still have a high environmental cost in production and shipping halfway across the world. Shopping local is a better option and you can feel good about supporting your local economy. If you order online from a small business, you typically have the opportunity to place a comment on the order asking for minimal or no plastic packaging. In my experience, small businesses have been very happy to oblige. Reduction in consumption is the name of the game, but in the meantime, let’s try to remove the plastic guilt.
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