An E-Commerce Packaging Reuse Ordinance is ready to be presented to Bay Area cities for adoption. The ordinance has been drafted by the Sierra Club Zero Waste, Bay Chapter, committee in response to the Amazon to Reuse Boxes Petition signed by more than 12,000 Marin County residents.
The ordinance asks retailers to collect and reuse their e-commerce packaging or pay a small fee per item to cover disposal costs.
The ordinance is designed to dramatically reduce city waste, using economic incentives rather than regulation.
Reuse is entirely voluntary for retailers and only waste-generating retailers will pay disposal costs.
To reduce landfill waste, all packaging materials are included but the reduction of plastics is key to the ordinance.
Here are the details:
- Retailers are encouraged to reuse their e-commerce packaging.
- Retailers are required to visibly brand their e-commerce packaging, or identification.
- Waste management companies in the jurisdiction are authorized to remove e-commerce packaging from the public waste stream, when economical, and return it to retailers at local waste drop-off sites, and
- Waste management companies are authorized to bill retailers for the collection and processing of e-commerce packaging at a rate of $.22 per item and $.03 for landfill disposal.
- All U.S. are eligible to adopt the ordinance and the ordinance can be tailored by city.
Interested in getting Amazon to pick up its packaging in your community?
Help make it happen!
Carolyn Lund
carolynelund@gmail.com, (415) 717-4656
Photo: Reusable Amazon totes, used internally only