Here at Araya, we are committed to sustainability. Our mission is to reduce the amount of waste involved in online shopping by repurposing used boxes for all of our shipping. With that goal in mind, all of our packages are not recycled but reused, meaning they are getting a second lease on life when they arrive at your doorstep! Even our packing tape is made from eco-friendly kraft paper, which means the box is actually recyclable, unlike most packaging tape!
With the surge of e-commerce, there has never been so many boxes shipped out on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. E-commerce has about four times as many touch-points as regular retail, and shipments are broken down into individual packages for delivery. According to a report released by Sanford C. Bernstein, Amazon alone ships an estimated average of 389-412 million packages a month, and 1,600,000 packages a day. This equates to 1 billion trees! That's a lot of cardboard waste, not to mention the waste from plastic and styrofoam packing peanuts. What can we do to stop this? So glad you asked!
Recycling is great, but we want to strive to do better! We want to reuse. What is the difference between reusing and recycling?
Recycling means turning an item into raw materials which can be used again, usually for a completely new product.
Reusing refers to using an object as it is without treatment. This reduces pollution and waste, thus making it a more sustainable process. The recycling process is complicated, and takes a lot of energy and other resources to create "recycled products."
Here is a list of the benefits of Reusing:
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Prevents pollution by reducing the need to harvest new raw materials
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Saves energy
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Reduces greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global climate change
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Helps sustain the environment for future generations
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Saves money
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Reduces the amount of waste that will need to be recycled or sent to landfills and incinerators
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Allows products to be used to their fullest extent