Marin County Woman Leads Push Get Amazon To Pick Up And Reuse All Those Boxes
MILL VALLEY (KPIX) - Every day, thousands and thousands of online Amazon orders are delivered in a boxes. Now there's a push to cut down on all that cardboard.
Mill Valley is latest city hall to join what might be called a movement to get Amazon to go 'green,' and it is largely the work of one determined woman's petition.
"It says dear Mr. Bezos we have become aware of a local resident-driven effort to offer a pilot program in Marin County, in which delivery trucks pick up Amazon boxes on subsequent deliveries and return them to Amazon warehouses for reuse," reads Carolyn Lund of Belvedere.
Lund has just received the letter from the Mill Valley City Hall, endorsing her petition.
Now a campaign with thousands of supporters and a handful of cities, Lund says it started as a conversation among friends at a coffee shop.
"We kinda looked at each other and asked, 'has Amazon been asked?' Lund recalls. "Let's ask them if they would simply reuse their boxes. Amazon is the number one user of cardboard boxes in the United States. It also accounts for 47% of all Internet sales. So if we partner with somebody about reducing refuse and pollution, they are the ones we want to partner with."
Lund's effort is quickly gaining steam. Five cities in Marin County have now jumped on board.
Mill Valley, as of Monday, San Rafael, Larkspur, Belvedere, Fairfax, and Muir Beach have all signed on in support of the pilot program.
Lund is also working towards a petition with 10,000 signatures, and she says those voices may ultimately be the loudest.
"These are Amazon customers," she says.
KPIX 5 reached out to Amazon for a comment but had not received a response as of Monday evening.
Lund says Novato is looking at the petition, and she hopes to start talking to lawmakers in Sacramento about statewide support, as well.
Over the summer, Amazon launched a push to reduce the amount of packaging in its order, in part, to save on shipping costs.
