Online sales now account for more than a quarter of all purchases, with ecommerce set to grow even more over the coming years.

Purchasing online offers a range of benefits, including ease and convenience. However, with all these deliveries comes an environmental toll, due to the resources required to transport them from one destination to another. 

So with governments around the world prioritising sustainability and implementing measures to reduce our ecological impact, couriers have been under pressure to come up with ways to ensure their services are as kind to the planet as possible.

Thankfully, they’re managing to do just that. In this blog post, we’ll cover some of the ways logistics companies and couriers are managing to make their services greener. We’ll also take a look into the future to see how the landscape will look in the coming years.

Packaging Revolution

As well as the transportational impact, another way that ecommerce is taxing on the environment is the packaging that’s used to safely carry goods to their intended destinations. This packaging is often made from harmful, non-biodegradable materials such as plastic or polystyrene, which take centuries to decompose and end up in rivers and seas.

Thankfully, many retailers and couriers are now utilising the benefits of eco-friendly materials. Biodegradable packaging, crafted from materials like Kraft paper, cornstarch or sugarcane, is gaining more and more prominence. By decomposing naturally, this ensures the packaging won’t be harming wildlife or sitting in a landfill for 200 years!

As well as the materials being used, companies are now adopting minimalist packaging techniques with made-to-measure boxes. This reduces the amount of materials being used, as well as making packages lighter which means transporting them takes up less fuel, proving that sometimes, less really is more.  

Carbon-Cutting

First and foremost, couriers are prioritising the reduction of carbon emissions in their effort to go greener. By acknowledging the environmental toll conventional vehicles take, they’re now looking at alternative options to help reduce that ecological cost.

(EVs) and hybrid fleets stand at the forefront of that effort, helping trim down the carbon footprint associated with the transportation of packages and paving the way for a cleaner, greener delivery system.

Over the next few years, all fuel-guzzling vehicles will likely be axed, with all-electric fleets the new norm. It’ll take a big investment but with governments keen to encourage as many as possible to make the transition, this will likely be helped with grants and subsidies. 

Renewable Energy

As well as the switch to more EVs, logistics companies are also utilising cleaner energy to power their operations in their distribution centres.

Warehouses are now being kitted out with solar panels to harvest the sun’s energy, while some are even using wind turbines to harness the power of the breeze to charge electric vehicle fleets.

All of these initiatives show that the industry is taking its commitment to climate safety seriously, and it’s encouraging to see such innovative measures being taken.

Last Mile

You may have come across the phrase “last mile delivery”, but what is it and what does it mean exactly? Well, as the name suggests, it concerns the final part of the delivery’s journey, and many transportation companies are now making this last leg as green as possible.

Electric bikes and cargo bicycles are increasingly being used to reduce fuel emissions and make it easier to steer through the intricate urban streets that larger vehicles would struggle to navigate.

Last-mile delivery is achieved as logistics companies set up micro-depots that are located on the outskirts of cities. Bike messengers then collect these packages and deliver them to customers, which not only reduces congestion but also ensures a more efficient delivery process.

Drone Technology

Although it’s still early days, the use of drones to deliver goods is expected to really take off over the next few years. The benefits of using drones will be multitudinous, with less pollution, less labour and, ultimately, less costs involved.

Drones are powered by electricity, so with couriers looking for different ways to reduce emissions, expect to see more drones buzzing our skies in the coming years.

So those are some of the nifty, innovative ways logistics companies are making their operations more environmentally friendly. As you can see, they’re utilising a range of tactics to lessen their eco-footprint, which is incredibly promising with ecommerce only set to get more popular.