Each holiday season, shoppers buy more gifts online than the year before — not surprising, given continuous growth in e-commerce year-round. In December, surging residential package deliveries draw increased attention. As people notice boxes everywhere, it’s natural to wonder: Is e-commerce increasing packaging use and waste?
Actually, corrugated packaging production tracks more closely to manufacturing output and sales than to shifting distribution channels. Before e-commerce existed, consumers did all of their shopping in physical stores. The products purchased at retail were delivered behind the scenes in bulk shipments and case-loads. It took fewer, but larger boxes to deliver products to stores; and it takes more, but smaller boxes to deliver unit-level packages to individual consumers.