… but green goes beyond just packaging and carrier efficiency. In other words, while a recent article in the Environmental Leader on how greener shipping can make you more green had some great advice that should be a starting point in your shipping considerations, I think it missed a few key points. Furthermore, it advocated carbon offsets over greener technology, which is not the answer. You need to solve the sustainability problem, not just shift the burden to someone else who may or may not solve the problem with your cash.
To understand what green shipping truly requires, we need to start with a review of some of the key points made by the author:
Pick Packaging With Care
This goes without saying. As the author notes, the packaging must be unbleached, minimal, and should use recycled materials that meet the relevant environment standards. But before you address packaging, you need to address the product. Is it small and dense, or large and vacuous? If the latter, can it be shipped unassembled or partially assembled to save space, and thus, packaging? In other words, good packaging is more than just material selection, it’s maximizing how much you can get in a shipment (without a significant risk of damage).
Choose Efficient Shipping
This also goes without saying, but this is more than just choosing a carrier who has well planned routes, avoids wasted trips, and doesn’t send three trucks a day when one will do. It’s making sure that you’ve optimized your daily/weekly/monthly shipping schedules to maximize truckload volume, use the most carbon-efficient mode of transport possible (be it rail, ocean, truck, or air), and set up the right processes and systems to make sure their are no hold-ups or waits on your end during shipping or receiving.
Mitigate Shipping Related Emissions
This is a must, but carbon credits aren’t the answer. The answer is lower emission (bio) fuel, more efficient (hybrid) engines, and conversion to green power in your facilities (wind, solar, hydro, etc.) where the batteries for the hybrid/electric vehicles are recharged.
Read the Report
You should definitely do your homework, but don’t stop with the company’s official sustainability report which has been routed through their PR — search the traditional (online newspapers, magazines, etc.) and new media (blogs, forums, etc.) to see if there is any coverage or discussion around their sustainability and corporate responsibility and what the market has to say.