Is online shopping eco-friendly?

If you are an online shopping fan, you probably have also thought that your practices, apart from being extremely convenient and economical, are much safer for the planet as well. You could be right or not, this depends mainly on how far you live from the actual store, what means of transportation you use and how are the online-ordered products being delivered to you. If you really want to be green you could walk to the store, purchase only eco-friendly items bring your own canvas bag and walk back home. You cannot do green than this. However, not everyone is lucky enough to do this, thus many of the, especially those who live on the outskirts and would have to waste many resources in order to get to the store have considered online shopping as a more eco-friendly alternative.

Nevertheless, it is up to you and the company you use. For instance, worldwide online shopping can be just as harmful if the company that produces the items you purchase is not responsible enough does not recycle, uses harmful ingredients and wastes precious resources. This is way you would better find out more about the company before actually purchasing a product from them. Likewise, the transportation is an issue as well. For example, the main shipping companies on the market, such as UPS and Fed Ex, along with the Postal Service, are trying to have an eco-friendly approach as much as possible. They cumulate goods and try to reduce the number of roads as much as possible. Also, it is good if the company you want to deliver you product uses recyclable materials that will not harm the environment.

Additionally, when it comes to worldwide online shopping, are a lot of factors involved, thus it is relatively hard to say whether it is greener or not than the traditional online shopping routines. Still, if you love purchasing things online and you want to reduce the amount to waste and have an eco-friendly attitude, there are things you could do. For instance, you could ask your favorite retailer to stop sending you catalogs, since you already have them available online. Likewise, you could demand them to use recycled of biodegradable packaging as much as possible. It would be good to opt for a retailer which has ethical packaging principles and store all the remained wrapping material to use for your personal shipping needs.