Amazon Prime: What Are They Thinking with Their Packaging?!

Another order, another example of overpackaging from Amazon.

I have written many blog posts on Amazon Prime and their wasteful packaging since becoming a member a little less than a year ago. Unfortunately, Amazon continues to disappoint me with their voluminous and wasteful packaging (you can read my other Amazon posts here and here and here and here and here and here and here.). Despite having a feedback section where customers can report how the packaging was on their items (where one can fill in if the box was too big or just right and whether the items were adequately protected, along with leaving written comments if desired), I continue to receive overpackaged shipments with wasted cardboard, packing paper, and bubble wrap. Sometimes I will receive a well packaged shipment and hope that the Amazon overpackaging is ending and then they hit me with wasteful shipments again.

I received two packages this week from Amazon Prime. One package was bath toys for my baby. There were three varieties of toys, all very small, yet the box I received was very big. I opened it and found a ton of packing paper. When I pulled the packing paper back there was almost nothing but empty space in the box. What a waste! When is Amazon going to stop overpackaging shipments like this? Their packaging is regularly shocking (at least in my household). Yes, I can recycle packing paper and cardboard, but reducing is better than wasting precious resources.

Another big box from Amazon.

A big box with lots of packing paper.

I was stunned when I looked in the box and found all of that empty space.

What was Amazon thinking?! Such a big box for such little items.

All of this packaging from Amazon and I still had the packaging on the children's toys too.

For children's items there was not a lot of packaging. Unfortunately, Amazon negated this with their packaging.

The Playgro and Munchkin bath toys were surprisingly well packaged for children's items, but Amazon sure failed in their packaging.

Another package that arrive this week was a tiny bottle of rose hip oil. It came in a big bubble envelope. When I opened the envelope, there a tiny bubble wrapped bottle at the bottom of it. There was so much wasted space. Why was this sent in such a huge envelope? Again, what a waste of packaging materials.

I was surprised by the size of the envelope when it arrived.

I couldn't believe how much empty space there was in the envelope.

A giant envelope for a tiny bottle of oil in bubble wrap.

All of this packaging for a tiny self-sealed bottle of rose hip oil.

I will continue to fill out Amazon’s packaging feedback section on their website for my orders, but since the packaging continues to disappoint, I don’t know if I’m wasting my time. Surely, Amazon could save money by using less packaging materials and thereby have smaller shipping costs. Come on, Amazon!

BioGaia Protectis Baby: Probiotic Drops in a Bottle in a Box in Another Box with Paper Too

A giant box for a tiny bottle of probiotic drops.

Without the bottle to recycle yet, I already have all of this waste.

My doctor recommended that I consult with a pediatric dietitian to figure out ways to ease my baby’s gas. The dietitian recommended probiotic drops by BioGaia called Protectis Baby. I am on probiotics myself and have seen their benefits, but I still read the scientific literature that I could find online including clinical trial results to ensure that I thought that this was the best thing for my baby.

My husband originally purchased a box and pulled the bottle out and I did not see the packaging. The second bottle, which we had to purchase about three to four weeks after because they only last about a month with the recommended dosing, came from Walmart. While the price was about $14 cheaper (about $28 dollars plus tax) than the other bottle that my husband had purchased from another pharmacy (about $42 plus tax), I forgot about these savings when I took the bottle out. I was stunned by the wasteful overpackaging.

From the size of the box it looks like the bottle of drops will be big (if one ignores the 5 mL label).

First of all, I should explain that this bottle of probiotic drops is about two inches tall and made of glass with a plastic lid (so when recycling it’s already going into two different bins at our place). However, the package that we purchased from Walmart was about six inches tall and made of cardboard. When I opened this box, I found a bunch of empty space, some paper inserts, and another cardboard box!

A box in a box and tons of empty space and a paper insert.

More wasted space in the second box plus another paper insert.

Why is there a box in a box? I understand that one box might be necessary instead of just a safety seal because the bottle is made of glass and could easily break in transport, but why are two boxes necessary?

As for the paper inserts, one was directions on how to use the probiotics, which could have been printed on one of the two boxes and the other was a slip advertising their various products. There were not even any coupons on anything, they just wanted people to know what else they sold. Most people now don’t find out about new products from inserts in boxes. So, this seemed like a waste too.

Upon opening the second smaller box, I finally found the tiny bottle of probiotic drops. So, one box held another box, two paper inserts, and a bottle. That’s a lot of resources for a tiny bottle that will be gone in three to four weeks. It was like a Russian Stacking Doll of waste.

There's the tiny bottle!

So much waste for such a tiny bottle.

All that wasted paper and cardboard

This bottle is so tiny it is dwarfed by even the smallest box.

Giant boxes for tiny bottles only infuriate customers.

What a waste.

I find it disturbing that companies who manufacture or sell children’s products seem particularly wasteful with packaging. Should they not be considering the future for these tiny customers? I’m not a rabid environmentalist, but I also don’t like seeing waste, especially not such blatant waste. One box is quite enough, two crosses the line into exorbitant waste and complete disregard for future generations.

All the paper and cardboard is going straight into the recycling bin.

Yes, cardboard, paper, glass, and plastic are all recyclable where I live in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, but that doesn’t mean that using all of these resources unnecessarily is okay. Recycling items takes a lot of energy and produces pollution too. It’s better to reduce or eliminate packaging where possible.  BioGaia, needs to rethink its packaging because the way it is now just makes it look as my husband cynically suggested like they are trying to trick customers into thinking that the bottle of probiotic drops is larger than it actually is (how many of us can accurately visualize what 5 mL looks like?). I pointed out to my husband that it’s a Swedish company and that in Europe they have had stricter packaging rules and goals than we have had in North America for a long time. My husband wondered if North American retailers required this huge packaging so that the item was visible on shelves and/or looked bigger. Let’s hope that nothing this dark is at play and that it is just another example of overpackaging.

And I'll be getting this pile of paper again in a few weeks since the bottle is so small.

Amazon Prime, Halo SleepSack, and Safety 1st Secure Plug Protectors: Overpackaging that Our Children Will Not Appreciate in the Future

I ordered a sleep sack for my baby (this is what is recommended now instead of using a blanket) plus safety covers for the electrical outlets around my house last week from Amazon Prime. I’ve mentioned before in previous posts (you can find them here and here) that I have a membership because I don’t get out of the house much anymore and infants don’t come with a lot (even though they apparently need a lot). 

The package arrived in a box as usual. I must point out that this delivery was the third one from Amazon Prime which failed to reach our house by the guaranteed date. Fortunately, Amazon Prime has excellent customer service, so they have made this right. What Amazon has not done right is packaging (again, see posts listed above).

I thought the box looked big when I received it. Here it is on my washing machine.

Nothing under that plastic bubble wrap.

Lots of empty space in this big box.

Another big box for the recycling heap.

A baby sleep sack is small, light, and already packaged in a bunch of stuff, or at least it was in the case of the Halo SleepSack. Electrical plug protectors are small and probably pretty hard to damage. These Safety 1st ones were in a pretty small plastic package. The box that Amazon used was about twice as big as was needed. 50% wasted space, 50% wasted cardboard, 50% more space taken up on a plane/truck/train, 50% more cardboard and resources needed to produce the box, and 50% more box to process at the recycling plant.

These two little items shouldn't need such a big box.

There was also plastic bubble wrap in the box (and it's the annoying large bubble wrap that's not that useful for reusing- I reuse fine bubble wrap on trips where I take it with me to bring back more fragile souvenirs), presumably to use up all the wasted space. It’s not like a cloth sleep sack or a box of plastic plug covers would break. I don’t understand why Amazon couldn’t put this in a small bubble mailer or cardboard mailer. Why a box?

More plastic that will either be thrown out or recycled, but probably not reused (on trips I reuse the finer bubble wrap in my suitcase to bring back more fragile souvenirs).

I am disappointed also by the amount of packaging used on the Halo SleepSack. This is specifically a children’s product and as such should consider the generation that it is targeted at and what their future is going to be like. This sleep sack was encased in a plastic bag, had a huge cardboard wraparound, a plastic hanger unusable for anything in a home (must be for hanging these in a store), and tissue paper inside the sleep sack. This is way too much packaging. My child and the other children of that generation are going to be really annoyed when they see how we have squandered all of these resources. With the amount of packaging used on so many different products and in shipping, it seems like all that will be left in a few decades is a big garbage dump/ recycling heap.

Lots of packaging on this sleep sack for babies.

After the bag is removed there's more packaging . . .

A big cardboard surround.

And a little plastic hanger.

And tissue paper.

 Even the packaging on the Safety 1st plug protectors leaves something to be desired. The package is hard plastic and is not even full all the way up, there’s a significant gap of empty space. Then there’s a cardboard back. Why couldn’t they just go in a thin little plastic bag? They probably don’t get damaged that easily. They look pretty robust. No one can reuse the partial plastic box after and while a little plastic bag couldn’t be reused either, it would take up less plastic and resources to make than a partial plastic box.

The plug protectors are encased in a semi-rigid plastic.

It's like a box without a back (cardboard at the back). It wasn't even full.

There's also a paper insert at the front.

While it’s good that all of this packaging is recyclable, it’s not good that we’re using so many resources and sending them straight back for processing again on recycling day. It’s not like I can reuse any of this waste, so it’s going straight out with the recycling. A truck has to come around and pick it up, it has to be stored and processed, then it has to be made into something else. That takes resources to do too. Why not just prevent this waste by using less packaging? Overpackaging is senseless and future generations will not thank us for it.

More stuff for the recycling pile.

Zero Waste: How I Reuse Free Makeup/Cosmetics Bags

Another "free" makeup bag joins the ranks along with its own packaging.

I’ve blogged before about the “free” or bonus stuff that often comes with makeup or skincare (you can find the links here and here and here and here). Sometimes it’s some samples and other times it may also includes a makeup or cosmetics bag. I’ve ended up with an unbelievable number of these from such places as Sephora, Shishedo, and Clinique. 

Another makeup bag and it's filled with samples.

This makeup bag came full of more "free" samples.

The picture below was taken more than a year ago and since then a few more of these bags have joined the ranks.

There's even more of these cosmetics bags hanging around my place now.

Someone on a blog of packing tips said that they use their free cosmetics bags when travelling to organize stuff. I tried this method on my last trip (to French Polynesia- haven’t finished uploading all of my blog entries for this trip but you can find it here). I put charging cords and earphones in one cosmetics bag. I put my GoPro Hero 5 and its accessories in another one. I put my travel journal (paper) plus pens, scissors, and tape in another. I used yet another to carry my prescriptions. I was quite pleased with this way of reusing the makeup bags (it makes it easy to find small items in a suitcase or backpack when it’s categorized in makeup bags that all have different patterns and colours) which otherwise would be a complete waste (I mean you might use one to travel with your makeup, but how do you use 15?), however I still have so many not in use.

One example of how I used makeup bags to organize small stuff when I traveled. Here's my GoPro Hero 5 plus accessories.

The other day, Graco sent me a replacement baby carriage (a jogger type) because my previous Graco stroller was defective. Unfortunately, both of these carriages are equipped with only a strangely small phone carrier (they say it will fit modern smartphones, but if you have anything larger than an old flip phone, you won’t be able to use their phone carrier or even the opening tray underneath to store your phone (not even my husband’s iPhone 6s fits in this carrier). Also, annoyingly, women’s clothes often don’t have pockets, so where am I supposed to store my phone? I went over and over the problem in my head. I tried the cup holders, but they didn’t fit my Google Pixel XL. I tried a small reusable bag, but it hung down from the handle too far, which was irritating. Then I remembered all of the free makeup bags. Some of these were made of waterproof materials. I found one that fit my phone and took a hair elastic and passed it through the zipper pull. Then I took the elastic and passed it through the frame of the stroller by the canopy of the carriage. I use this now for when I don’t have pockets and need somewhere to put my phone. The little lidded storage box on the carriage works for my keys, but not really anything else. I think I’ll probably use a real elastic band next time to give the case more latitude to be pull towards me when I’m rummaging for my phone while holding the handle of the carriage, but I’m pleased with this solution.

The middle thing is supposed to be for holding a phone. My Google Pixel XL will not fit at all.

It won't fit in this little storage bin under the "phone holder" either.

A free makeup bag.

Attached to the frame of the stroller with a hair elastic.

Light and nestled into the hood of the carriage, the free makeup bag now holds my phone when I don't have pockets.

While it would be better to not have so many makeup bags being produced and thrown out or just sitting around (when one visits Value Village and other used clothing stores one can observe dozens or sometimes what seems like hundreds of these makeup bags hanging around. Who is going to buy one of them used when it was originally free? What happens to them if they are not bought at these places? Are they thrown out?), at least if they are used somehow, they are not a complete waste. Really though, I think makeup bags are another example of overpackaging in our society that uses too much packaging, resources, and is not moving in a zero waste direction at all.

Do you have any ideas of how to reuse cosmetics or makeup bags?

Packages with packages. That's a lot of waste.