Establishing best practices for E-commerce transport packaging waste management in Canada: A systematic review

Abstract

The growth in online retail purchases has increased significantly, especially through the COVID-19 pandemic, yet causes more packaging waste than brick-and-mortar retail. Free and easy returns further exacerbate the problem. Current research addressing post-consumer packaging waste has focused on packaging design and material choices. Yet, effective guidelines, policies, strategies, and practices for e-commerce packaging waste management must be determined (Escursell et al., 2021). Therefore, this research identifies global best practices to address transport packaging waste in e-commerce, focusing on Canada. A systematic review of the extant literature (2011–2020) revealed five key objectives of packaging sustainability guidelines: Optimizing Resources, Responsible Sourcing, Resource Recovery, Material Health, and Consumer Engagement. The analysis showed that Responsible Sourcing and Resources Recovery were highlighted in 41% of publications, Optimizing Resources in 31%, and Consumer Engagement in 23% of the studies. The most popular waste reduction strategy was Design for Environment under the Optimizing Resources guideline. This work is the first to identify and articulate clear guidelines, policies, and practices to support industry and policy decision-makers in addressing the transport packaging waste problem in e-commerce.