27 February 2024 – Online shopping has been on the rise for years, but in the battle online vs in-store shopping which is better for our environment?
The convenience of online shopping has long been a thorn in the side of high street shops. But during the pandemic, when retail shops were closed, it became the only way to make purchases.
Online shopping is handy for sure, but with all the packaging needed to get your item safely to you, is it better for our environment to return to physical shops?
There are several pros and cons to either option, which can cause confusion for environmentally conscious consumers. However, several studies in recent years have looked at this question.
So we pit online vs in-store shopping against each other to find out which is the best option for the planet. Or is the answer a completely different one?
Packaging Is Major Contributor To Waste
Most of the waste we produce comes from packaging, like food packaging. But with online shopping such a popular buying option, shipping packaging is becoming a major contributor to this waste.
And while some of the packaging used is recyclable, including cardboard boxes and paper filling material, many parcels still come with plastic bubble wrap. This ends up in our general waste bin.
Furthermore, many items that wouldn’t be packaged up in a store are wrapped in plastic when you buy them online. Garments are a good example. To protect them during the journey from the distribution centre to your door, many are in a plastic bag.
Yet more waste that you don’t have when shopping in physical stores on the high street. A study from 2022 by Sogang University in South Korea found that shopping online produces 4.8 times more waste from packaging than in-store shopping.
While these figures are based on data from South Korea, it’s likely that it will be similar for the UK.
Emissions From Transport
So when it comes to packaging in-store shopping is ahead of online shopping in terms of environmental impact. But what about emissions from transport? Surely, online shopping will create more emissions.
Well, actually a study by the Centre for Transport and Logistic at MIT says otherwise. When you buy an item in-store, you have to travel to and from the store. The research has shown that this produces twice as many emissions as if the item had been bought online.
When items are sold online, they are sent from a distribution centre or the store directly to the customers. But if you buy something from a store, it has been shipped from the distribution centre in bulk to the store. Then you buy it and travel back home.
The emissions of a delivery van will be smaller than your individual travel, because delivery companies calculate their routes to minimise costs, which also reduces emissions.
If items have been manufactured overseas, as so many are, then emissions from air fright also needs to be added for both shopping types.
So while in terms of emissions online shopping has the upper hand, this changes when you take same-day or express delivery into account. Quicker delivery options produce more emissions, because the delivery vans might only be half full.
This makes it rather difficult to decide who in our online vs in-store shopping battle comes out on top.
Returns Have An Environmental Impact Too
When an item is returned, more emissions are produced, either by sending it back or by driving to the shop to return it. You would assume that with online shopping more items are returned.
After all, people buy items without seeing them beforehand. However, a study by Monash University from 2022 has shown that this is a false assumption.
Surprisingly, the data has shown that in Australia in 2022 66% of shoppers who bought items in a physical store returned their purchase. Only 42% of online shoppers did so.
This shows that online shopping seems to do better when it comes to returns. But considering all of this, which is better for the planet?
Our Opinion: The Question Of Online Vs In-Store Shopping Is Beside The Point
It’s incredibly difficult to calculate carbon emissions, and the data from these various studies seem to suggest that there isn’t actually that much in it. However, the question of which is better is actually besides the point.
Rather than trying to find out which way of shopping has less of an impact on our environment, we should look at how much we buy. What really drives up emissions and waste is the amount of things we buy every year.
Manufacturing processes and the use of materials and resources is what has the biggest environmental impact. And the more we buy, the more is produced. So rather than asking how to buy, consider if you should buy.
The best way to reduce our impact on the environment is to buy less. Also think about what you buy. We live in a throw away society, where we buy new things all the time and get rid of the old ones, even if they are still usable.
Fast fashion is a good example of this. We chase fashion trend after fashion trend and only wear the garments for a few weeks. Then we move on to the next ones.
At the core of the issues our environment faces lies our behaviour. We can try and make little tweaks, like asking which shopping method is better for the planet, but we really need to fundamentally change our behaviour.
This means buying less. Not only will this be great for the planet but also for our finances.
