The Return Habit We Should Break

I’m currently deep-diving into the circular economy in my Climatebase Fellowship, and while there’s so much we could unpack, let’s zoom in on something we all do without thinking: online returns. 🛍️

We’ve all ordered multiple sizes/colors/options with the intention of sending back whatever doesn’t work. It feels efficient… but behind the scenes, it’s actually pretty rough on the planet. The labor, transportation, processing, quality checks, and restocking often cost companies more than simply paying the disposal fee to toss the item. Yep — many returns never make it back on the shelves [woof]. 😬