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The United States contains 5% of the world’s population, yet consumes about a quarter of the planet’s resources. Much of this consumption stems from our “throw away” lifestyle, whereby many products are used once and then thrown away. This started in the 1950s, when the plastics and chemical industries sold the American public on the convenience of single-use disposable items. In 2011, the average American produced 4.4 pounds of household garbage per day, twice as much as in 1960. Today, the throw away lifestyle has big upstream and downstream impacts on climate change, community health, and

In our efforts to reduce waste, we have often heard people say that the “real” problem is the people who throw their garbage on the sidewalk and out their car windows. Of course, we agree that we should change this behavior, but the truth is that littering is not the real problem. We need to change the entire system because the plastic trash that floats in the world's oceans actually decompose and release potentially toxic substances into the water.

First, much of the litter items we see—aluminum cans, straws, plastic bags, etc.—are lightweight and easily blow off of garbage trucks, landfills

The addiction to instant gratification has turned e-commerce into an environmental monster. The fascination with on-demand service and the growth of a “got-to-have-it-now” culture has compelled shipping companies to carry fewer items in their vehicles in order to meet time demands. For expedited shipping orders the e-commerce giant Amazon sends trucks only halfway or partially filled to meet arrival deadlines. Moreover, expedited items being sent to the same location are shipped individually as soon as each one is ready, resulting in multiple trips to the same location.

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