Businesses that need to safely package and store things with bubble wrap face two problems. First, thin film plastics like bubble wrap “account for 46% of the nearly 14 million metric tons of new plastic waste that end up in oceans each year.”[1] This magnifies a business’s negative ecological impact. Second, bubble wrap can be expensive[2] and that increases operating and shipping costs. While the search for more ecological friendly materials is ongoing,[3] a shorter term solution is needed. The three “Rs”: reduce, reuse, and recycle are a good place to start.
The first step is reducing the amount of bubble wrap one uses by using paper products like paper bubble wrap instead.[4] However, the second step is also important because bubble wrap is reusable.[5] While individual businesses cannot feasibly reuse their own bubble wrap after sending it out, it could be possible to form an industry funded non-profit that collects and then redistributes bubble wrap and other reusable packing materials.
Essentially, subscribing members would pay a monthly fee to the entity based on the volume of materials they need. The entity would use those funds to induce buyers to return their shipping supplies – maybe for credit at subscribing organizations’ stores – and then redistribute the collected supplies among its subscribers. This should reduce costs for everyone if there is sufficient scale. Individual sellers and small businesses that use platforms like eBay could be incorporated as well and may be most likely to benefit from such a program. Ultimately, this shipping supplies entity could function like the Associated Press does for the news industry.
[1] Anne Quito, Bubble wrap, kitchen cling wrap, and plastic polybags pollute our oceans more than we realize, Quartz (Apr. 22, 2022), https://qz.com/2151074/the-environmental-impact-of-bubble-wrap-and-plastic-cling.
[2] See Ossiana Tepfenhart, Where To Buy Bubble Wrap (For Moving and Shipping), UpgradedHome (Jan. 2, 2022), https://upgradedhome.com/where-to-buy-bubble-wrap/ (a 175 foot roll of moving wrap can cost around $20 and a 250 foot industrial roll can cost $80 to $100).
[3] Quito, supra note 1.
[4] See e.g., Swiftpak, Paper vs traditional bubble wrap: Everything you need to know (Sep. 13, 2022), https://www.swiftpak.co.uk/insights/paper-wrap-vs-traditional-bubble-wrap (an example of paper bubble wrap and its benefits relative to plastic bubble wrap).
[5] Tepfenhart, supra note 2.
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