The environmental impact of e-commerce packaging.

E-commerce packaging typically involves multiple materials, including cardboard, plastic, and other protective fillers. While these materials serve to ensure products arrive safely, their production, transport, and disposal all contribute to carbon emissions. The production of cardboard, which is one of the most common packaging materials, involves trees that absorb carbon dioxide. However, the process of turning wood into paper requires a significant amount of energy and water.

Plastics, another common material used in e-commerce packaging, from extracting raw materials to refining and polymerizing them, plastic manufacturing emits considerable greenhouse gases. Furthermore, once used, plastic packaging often ends up in landfills or the ocean, where it can take hundreds of years to break down, continuing its environmental impact long after the product has reached the consumer.

The transportation of these materials further exacerbates the problem. With the global reach of e-commerce, packaging materials are often transported over long distances. This global supply chain requires vast amounts of fuel, resulting in significant emissions from shipping and logistics. As e-commerce companies strive to offer faster delivery times, more transportation is required, further increasing the carbon footprint.

電商包裝的環境影響。電商包裝通常包含多種材料，包括紙板、塑膠和其他保護性填充物。雖然這些材料有助於確保產品安全送達，但它們的生產、運輸和處置都會產生碳排放。紙板是最常見的包裝材料之一，其生產過程中需要樹木吸收二氧化碳。然而，將木材轉化為紙張的過程需要大量的能源和水。

塑膠是另一種常用於電商包裝的材料，從原料提取到精煉和聚合，塑膠製造過程中會排放大量的溫室氣體。此外，塑膠包裝一旦使用，通常會被填埋或傾倒在海洋，分解可能需要數百年時間，在產品到達消費者手中後仍會持續對環境產生影響。

這些材料的運輸進一步加劇了這個問題。隨著電商的全球影響力，包裝材料通常需要長距離運輸。這條全球供應鏈需要消耗大量燃料，導致航運和物流產生大量排放。隨著電子商務公司努力提供更快的配送時間，需要更多的運輸，進一步增加碳足跡。

Source: packaging-gateway.com