Buy Now!: How to help break the shopping waste cycle

We’ve got a waste problem. Natural resources are continually extracted to produce goods that are used – often just briefly, sometimes not at all – before they are thrown into landfills, incinerators or the natural environment. Too often this is by design: rapid-fire clothing trends, phones designed to be hard to repair, products and companies that use “recyclable” as more of a marketing angle than a real practice. This system of consumption and disposal results in wasted resources and pollution that threatens our health and environment. 

As documented in the recent Netflix film, Buy Now!, our consumption and waste issues have reached a point where we have to make some changes. Here are three things you can do to “Act Now!” instead of “Buy Now!” and help break the waste cycle. 

Tell fast fashion companies: Stop destroying unsold clothing

Clothing companies are making more clothing than we can wear. Globally, only 20% of all textiles are recycled or repurposed, sending the other 92 million tons of clothing to landfills each year. When fashion brands are hyper-focused on endlessly pumping out the next trend, massive amounts of waste are inevitable.

It’s time for clothing companies to commit to ending the wasteful practice of overproducing clothing then destroying overstock. And as consumers, we can use our power to call on these companies to change, while also reducing our own environmental impact. We’re targeting Forever 21, as one of the largest fast fashion retailers in the U.S., and churns through millions of articles of clothing every season.

Join the movement of people who just want to fix our stuff

When something breaks, you fix it. That’s just common sense. But when only the manufacturer or their “authorized technician” has the necessary parts, tools or information needed, they can charge whatever they want or push you into buying a new device. These manufacturer-imposed repair restrictions affect our daily lives through the laptops, cell phones, and tablets we use every day. The result is surging repair costs and a massive amount of waste. 

A movement of people is coming together around the “Right to Repair” calling for reforms to require manufacturers to give us the parts, tools and information needed to repair modern electronics. We’ve helped pass seven Right to Repair bills in the last three years, and are working to expand access to repair.

Let’s tell the truth about plastics recycling

It is estimated that a dump truck worth of plastic ends up in our environment every minute. The United States, in particular, generates a lot of plastic — 71 billion pounds a year – and roughly half of it is designed to be tossed away after a single-use. The real problem is that “tossed away” does not mean the plastic disappears. 

Plastic does not biodegrade, so most of the plastic that has been made is still out there somewhere, polluting the environment. Less than 10% of all plastic has been recycled, and only 1% has been recycled twice. Manufacturers often label plastic containers and other plastic products as being recyclable even if there is no reasonable way to recycle the plastic used. 

Truth in recycling would prevent plastic producers from putting recycling symbols on products that aren’t actually being recycled. We’re calling on the FTC to stand up to false recycling claims.

Call on Amazon—one of America’s largest retailers—to stop shipping plastic packaging

Amazon makes more than 16 million deliveries every day. That’s roughly one order for every 8 American households. 

Worse, many of those items will come packaged in plastic that can’t be recycled, generating mountains and mountains of waste that pollute oceans, landfills or even the gutters in our neighborhood. Shopping sustainably or plastic-free can seem impossible even for conscientious consumers when so much stuff comes wrapped in plastic. You see the waste pile up in your trashcan, and it’s frustrating.

Tell Amazon: We don’t want waste arriving on our doorsteps this holiday season. Eliminate wasteful, single-use packaging.

Read more about stopping waste and overconsumption