Toys “R” Us: Waste That Future Generations Will Resent

We recently ordered a Baby Einstein Caterpillar & Friends Play Gym for our baby online from Toys “R” Us. We had a gift card for there and I don’t get out of the house much anymore with a new baby, so we bought it online instead of going to the store.

The package arrived and was left at our house. When I found it, I was amazed by the size of the box. I had seen this product before at my sister’s place and knew that it was not that big, so I was confused by the size of the box (4'x3' approximately).

Four feet by three feet?! How big is this little baby toy?

When the box was opened it had a second box inside (about 2'x1.5'), the one the actual product came it. There was no bubble wrap or paper in all the empty space to pad it, so I’m not really sure what the purpose of the giant box was.

So much wasted space in this giant box.

This play gym is already in a box. Why is another needed?

Couldn’t the package that the play gym came in just be wrapped in mailing paper or perhaps bubble wrap with a label and then the other box wouldn’t be needed for shipment? This would reduce waste and the amount of resources needed to ship each product. The large box serves no purpose that I can see other than becoming yet another thing that goes straight into the recycling pile. While it’s great that cardboard can be recycled, it would be better if it didn’t even get used in the first place (and then resources wouldn’t be wasted making it either).

Another giant box for my recycling pile.

While I know I’m part of the problem for ordering online (although who knows, maybe driving to a store is just as bad), there are probably better ways to ship online purchases, with less waste, and perhaps eventually zero waste. Overpackaging can still be found with so many products and in the shipping process itself when products are purchased online. While this product didn't have a lot of packaging, the shipping process created a huge amount of waste with the giant and unnecessary box that Toys "R" Us used. Online shopping is here to stay. If we continue using the amount of packaging that we’re using now, there will be nothing left for the next generation and they will certainly resent us for this.