E-commerce platforms urged to reduce plastic use, explore sustainable alternatives
MANILA, Philippines (Updated 12:44 p.m.) — As the holiday season draws near, environmental group Greenpeace called on the country’s largest e-commerce companies to reduce the use of unnecessary plastic packaging and adopt sustainable alternatives.
More and more people are shopping online than ever before because of the COVID-19 pandemic. E-commerce giant Lazada reported that Filipinos spent 420 million minutes shopping on the platform during its 12.12 sale last year, while Shopee said that 12 million items were immediately sold in the first 24 minutes of the sale.
The significant increase in e-commerce sale has led to an overwhelming amount of plastic waste, most of which will end up in landfills and are not recycled.
Data compiled by Oceana suggested that plastic packaging use will more than double: from 942 million kilograms in 2019 to 2.056 billion kg in 2025.
“What we have now is a perfect storm of incoming holidays, the persistence of pandemic, and of course, the burden that these events produce to our planet in terms of packaging waste,” Greenpeace campaigner Jefferson Chua said in a briefing ahead of the 9.9 shopping events.
Taxpayers are shouldering the costs of managing e-commerce waste, the organization stressed.
“The mounds of unnecessary plastic waste produced burden our households and communities. While buyers do have the responsibility in segregating our waste properly, these companies who have the capital and resources to be sustainable cannot and should not pass it all to consumers,” Chua said.
Online petition
Over 14,000 individuals have signed an online petition launched in November last year, which called on Lazada and Shopee to integrate zero-waste systems in their businesses.
They demanded the two e-commerce giants to reveal data on waste estimates, reduce waste production by introducing reduction targets, and redesign current systems by exploring reusable and returnable packaging and incentives.
“This deposit and return system is what we hope to relive in our online transactions since we are in the era where everything is a click away and we’re seeing its environmental effects. That pushes us to rethink and redesign the way we’re doing our business,” said Rachelle Lacanlale, founder of JuanBag, an initiative that collects plastic packaging that will be upcycled into reusable bags.
In a statement, Lazada said it remains to be committed in building a sustainable e-commerce ecosystem and in addressing the environmental impact of waste.
“We have rolled out several key initiatives with our brand-merchants and other industry partners all geared at equipping consumers with the knowledge to make more informed and discerning consumption choices, and to provide them with access to sustainable packaging options,” it said.
Greenpeace said the petition will be transmitted to the country offices of the two companies.
“The ball is really on their court to reveal their waste estimates and publicize sustainable programs, reduce current trends in waste generation, rationalize packaging system, and more importantly, redesign the ways products are delivered to consumers with more sustainable packaging,” Chua said.
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