Last mile has great impact on the environment

Dutch consumers expect to do more and more of their shopping online in the coming five years. This is evident from research conducted by GfK on behalf of Thuiswinkel.org. The expected online sales share has risen from 37% in 2025, to 40% in 2026, to 41% in 2027. "It is striking that sustainability is a decisive factor for 21% of consumers when buying products, but that there is little attention for the environmental impact of the deliveries," says Caroline Schuurs, country manager Benelux at Shopopop.

In an earlier survey, Thuiswinkel.org looked at how consumers feel about the sustainability of the so-called last mile (the delivery process between the webshop and the consumer). It appears that they are hardly concerned about the environmental impact of deliveries. It is also possible that they know too little about the effects of shopping on the environment and society, according to the researchers.

CO2 emissions parcel deliverers

The environmental impact of online shopping usually revolves around the CO2 emissions of the parcel deliverers. In doing so, they ignore another, and considerable, environmental impact: the packaging, says Schuurs. "Online retailers promise to be sustainable by using drop-off points, electric vehicles and bicycle couriers. However, they use 85,000 tonnes of packaging material in the Netherlands, 80% of which is cardboard and 20% plastic. That is a huge burden on the environment."

Cardboard is recycled, right? Schuurs: "Yes, but it is not infinite. The Netherlands is therefore faced with a growing mountain of cardboard waste. A lot of packaging and filling materials are not suitable for recycling, because they consist of a combination of paper and plastic. They are also often provided with all kinds of stickers and tape. This disrupts recycling and they are often incinerated as a result. Even some of the plastic collected is burned, according to research into the processing of plastic waste (2019) in the Netherlands commissioned by Greenpeace. In 2017, of the 512 kilotons of packaging made entirely of plastic, less than half was recycled."

Moreover, the business model of e-commerce and packaging is based on a disposable system, Schuurs explains. "This applies to packaging, which many consumers throw away immediately, but also to returns. 

Various studies have shown that packaging materials have a major impact on the environment. For example, a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the MDPI for cosmetics and household products shows that cardboard packaging has the largest CO2 footprint, after the electricity consumption in the distribution centre. The filling material in the shipping packaging also contributes significantly (filler paper, bubble wrap and plastic cushions). This impact is even greater than that of freight transport.

There are three types of packaging: the packaging around the product, the packaging for shipping and filling material. "Because of these last two types of packaging, online shopping is much more damaging to the environment than a purchase in a physical shop," says Schuurs. 

According to the "interim monitoring of the branch sustainability plan packaging" of Thuiswinkel.org, the average fill rate of e-commerce packaging in 2021 was 58%. "So an unnecessary amount of packaging material is being used," says Schuurs. "Everyone knows the problem that a small product is delivered in a gigantic box. Many webshops work with a limited number of standard-sized boxes for reasons of efficiency. The empty space is filled with a lot of paper and plastic. This is irritating for consumers, but deadly for the environment. Moreover, most of the transport then consists of air. That is not sustainable, is it?

So what is sustainable? Schuurs: "Our vision of sustainability is not limited to optimising transport, but also includes avoiding unnecessary packaging. Our customers place orders via an app at shops in the neighbourhood and our shoppers, who go there for their own groceries anyway, deliver them personally. So there is no extra mileage and no extra packaging. This is how neighbours show their commitment to each other and to the environment."