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Car vs. Packaging—A First, Simple (Environmental) Sustainability Assessment of Our Changing Shopping Behaviour

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  • Roland Hischier

    (Empa, Technology & Society Laboratory, Lerchenfeldstrasse 5, CH-9014 St. Gallen, Switzerland)

Abstract

Which way of purchasing your clothes results in the lowest environmental impacts: “running” into the next big city to “plunder” the various clothing stores, or searching through a plethora of online shops and ordering your next shirt directly to you at home? So far, no such comparison has been published. The aim of this study is to get a first basic idea of which of these two consumer choices is the more environmentally sustainable by assessing the potential environmental impacts related to one person’s annual purchases of clothing through a simplified life cycle assessment. The study shows that going to a nearby city for shopping is not necessarily worse compared to online purchasing. When a person uses their own car, travel from home to the city and back is responsible for a sizeable amount of the potential impacts. However, the potential impacts of travel are heavily influenced by the means of transport (i.e., use of public transport rather than personal car) and the frequency of shopping excursions over the year. Overall, the potential impacts per single clothing item purchased could be in a similar range for both means of purchase.

Suggested Citation

  • Roland Hischier, 2018. "Car vs. Packaging—A First, Simple (Environmental) Sustainability Assessment of Our Changing Shopping Behaviour," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-12, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:9:p:3061-:d:166271
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Buldeo Rai, Heleen, 2021. "The net environmental impact of online shopping, beyond the substitution bias," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    2. Mélanie Schmutz & Roland Hischier & Claudia Som, 2021. "Factors Allowing Users to Influence the Environmental Performance of Their T-Shirt," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-16, February.
    3. Marcin Gąsior, 2021. "Environmental Attitudes and Willingness to Purchase Online—Classification Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-17, August.
    4. Thorey S Thorisdottir & Lara Johannsdottir, 2020. "Corporate Social Responsibility Influencing Sustainability within the Fashion Industry. A Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-64, November.
    5. Bjørgen, Astrid & Bjerkan, Kristin Ystmark & Hjelkrem, Odd Andre, 2021. "E-groceries: Sustainable last mile distribution in city planning," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    6. Jan Matuštík & Vladimír Kočí, 2020. "A Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Electronic Retail of Household Products," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-13, June.
    7. Danni Zhang & Regina Frei & Gary Wills & Enrico Gerding & Steffen Bayer & Prince Kwame Senyo, 2023. "Strategies and practices to reduce the ecological impact of product returns: An environmental sustainability framework for multichannel retail," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(7), pages 4636-4661, November.
    8. Heleen Buldeo Rai & Koen Mommens & Sara Verlinde & Cathy Macharis, 2019. "How Does Consumers’ Omnichannel Shopping Behaviour Translate into Travel and Transport Impacts? Case-Study of a Footwear Retailer in Belgium," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-19, May.
    9. Britta Frommeyer & Julia Koch & Carla Scagnetti & Manuel Lorenz & Gerhard Schewe, 2024. "Recycled or reusable: A multi‐method assessment of eco‐friendly packaging in online retail," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 28(1), pages 100-115, February.
    10. Damian Dubisz & Paulina Golinska-Dawson & Przemysław Zawodny, 2022. "Measuring CO 2 Emissions in E-Commerce Deliveries: From Empirical Studies to a New Calculation Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-20, December.
    11. Viola Rühlin & Andrea Del Duce & Maike Scherrer, 2023. "The Impact of Spatial Aspects on the Supply Chain and Mobility Demand of Pharmaceutical Products in E-Commerce and Brick-and-Mortar Shopping," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-17, July.

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