Plastic packaging tax and the environmental impact of online shopping
On 1st April 2022, the UK Government introduced a tax on plastic packaging, aimed at incentivising businesses to use at least 30% recycled plastic in their packaging.
The packaging we use is, and always has been, plastic free, so the new tax does not impact us. However, we thought it would be a good opportunity to explore the environmental impact of online shopping.
We love online shopping - of course we do, Everyday Green is an online shop! But the amount of packaging that’s used can be a serious threat to our environment. Suppliers ship their products to the warehouses of online shops, who in turn repackage it into individual orders to deliver out to customers. Much of this packaging can end up in landfill, incinerated, or worse - end up in rivers or oceans. We feel it's the responsibility of every online shop to minimise this. This is how we do it.
Plastic free, 100% recyclable and as environmentally friendly as it can be
Our aim is to minimise the waste involved in this process:
- We work with our suppliers to reduce the issue of over-packaging and single-use packaging
- We have a small but growing collection of 'unpackaged' products, where packaging just isn't necessary
- Where possible, we reuse the boxes our suppliers send us their products in
- If we haven’t got a suitable box to reuse box, we use sustainably sourced cardboard kraft boxes, corrugated card or paper envelopes.
- We pad out boxes with sustainably sourced paper to keep everything safe on its journey - this is to prevent products being damaged, thus wasted
- We email your invoice rather than include print it off and include it in the box – it's just another piece of paper we think you (and the environment) can do without!
- We seal packing boxes with our brown paper tape. It's 100% recyclable brown paper with natural adhesive that's biodegradable and compostable. This means that, unlike usual plastic based tape, you do not need to remove it from the cardboard before recycling or composting it.
- Unlike a marketplace, where your order may involve several deliveries (and parcels) sent from different locations, we stock all of our products in our warehouse, and send your order out in a single parcel.
How to dispose of your Everyday Green packaging:
- Reuse it
- Compost it
- Recycle it
