The US shopping phenomenon is now part of the British retail calendar with millions of packages delivered over the promotional period. Now, retail and waste management has to accommodate the pre-Christmas spending spree.
Black Friday is increasing in popularity every year. 194 million visits were made to UK retail websites in Black Friday 2019, and, according to Amazon, last year’s Cyber Monday was the “biggest ever” for the business.
The rise of e-commerce shopping, and the appeal of sale-price products during the holiday shopping weekend, sees a lot of products being shipped from stores to buyers’ homes. This, in turn, leads to large quantities of packaging that need to be recovered from domestic recycling collections in a way that allows said packaging to become high-quality material for recycling.
This year, as Black Friday coincides with more Covid-19 related lockdowns, the ‘holiday’ looks set to be bigger than ever.
Consumer habits have drastically changed throughout 2020, with evidence showing that lockdowns increase the rate of online shopping.
DS Smith recently reported that 64% of Europeans say they shopped more online during Covid-19 with 89% saying they will continue to shop as much online or even more post-lockdown.
In fact, DS Smith predicts that online grocery shopping will become the norm for many, with more than half of Europeans planning to continue or increase the habit to buy groceries online (62%).
Furthermore, the presence of a national lockdown in England means that the shoppers who would rather shop in-store, now have no choice but to turn to the internet this Black Friday.
There has been a pronounced effect in Wales on the impact lockdowns have on online orders. Research has discovered that the firebreak lockdowns in Wales saw online sales for non-essential items grow by 88%.
Similar effects may be seen in England, especially with Black Friday and Cyber Monday offering up deals and heightening demand further. The combination of Black Friday and a new lockdown creates the perfect storm for a build-up of materials at home.
So how can we make sure our recycling systems don’t suffer this Black Friday while at home?
At DS Smith, we believe in approaching society’s challenges with a big-picture perspective, not just tackling individual parts. So we’ve taken a look at how can packaging design, e-commerce deliveries, and recycling at home can come together to make Black Friday greener.
read more at source: https://www.dssmith.com/recycling/insights/blogs/2020/11/black-friday-sustainability-three-ways-to-help-e-commerce-go-green