How To Make Sure Your Business Is Shipping Sustainably

Julie Starr • January 17, 2022



Online sales were on a growth path long before COVID19 struck the world down. After seeing the effects of the pandemic, businesses have even more reason to develop a strong online presence . For many businesses, that is going to mean shipping physical goods to customers. With that in mind, here are six tips on how to make sure that your shipping is sustainable.

Minimize customer returns

Customer returns are a huge issue for online retailers. Getting to grips with them will improve your margins as well as make you more sustainable. The good news is that getting to grips with returns is more about thoroughness and attention to detail than it is about your budget.

What you need to understand is that the majority of customers who return goods do so because the goods didn’t meet their expectations. There is a very small percentage of customers who use the returns system as a way to scam retailers. If, however, you’re running effective anti-fraud measures you should be able to catch most if not all of these.

Stopping customers from making genuine returns essentially boils down to making sure that they have all the information they need to make an informed decision before they buy. More specifically, it means ensuring that they have that information at their fingertips rather than having to search for it.

In general, the easiest way to achieve this is to implement a chatbot system. That way, you can keep your web pages clean and attractive but still give customers all the information they need. Additionally, it’s a good idea to provide lots of photos and/or videos. In some cases, you might even want to create an app to allow customers to visualize the product in their real life.

Keep on top of your inventory

Keeping on top of your inventory will minimize your chances of having to send goods by air to compensate for delays in getting new stock. It will also minimize your chances of having goods returned purely because they arrived too late.

Prior to COVID19, it was fairly common practice for businesses to operate just-in-time shipping processes. They also tended to ship from central distribution hubs, often in China. Before the pandemic, these tended to work fairly well most of the time. Even then, however, there were noticeable problems with the system.

Post COVID19 it could be well worth considering having a bank of inventory to protect you against shipping delays. If you routinely ship internationally, it could also be worth considering keeping stock in hubs near your main customer bases. You could have a partner ship them out to your end customers from there.

This approach is often a win for customer service as well as sustainability. It means that goods can be transported most of the way using slower transport options. They can then go to the last leg by air if necessary. If, however, the goods are closer to the customers, you may be able to make more frequent use of slower and more sustainable transport options.

Take packaging seriously

If you’re packaging your own products then make a commitment to review your packaging on a regular basis. That means at least once a year. This will allow you to adapt your packaging quickly to reflect the changes that inevitably come with time.  

For example, people may discover more sustainable ways of packing either using new materials or using existing materials in a new way. Alternatively, stakeholders such as governments may update rules/taxes relating to the use of packaging materials. These changes generally favor more sustainable options.

Both developments in packaging and regulatory changes tend to be flagged well in advance of going mainstream/being implemented. It’s therefore highly advisable to pay attention to relevant news sources so you always stay on top of the latest news and can respond quickly.

No matter what packaging you use, err on the side of excess when it comes to protective materials. Slightly overpacking an item is less of a sustainability hazard than slightly underpacking it. This is because it minimizes the chances of the goods being damaged and hence being returned and/or discarded.

Make sure you know shipping rules

 

If you break shipping rules, even by accident, then you’re setting yourself up for trouble. You may get away with it on the odd occasion but the chances are you won’t. This is particularly true if you’re sending goods by air.  

The aviation industry takes customer security extremely seriously. This means that air cargo is scanned very thoroughly before it gets put on the plane. If there is anything wrong at all, the package will generally be either held or returned. Generally, it will be held if there is an issue with documentation and returned if the package cannot be transported for some other reason.

Both holds and returns are an inconvenience. From a sustainability perspective, returns are far worse. As with customer returns, they are a largely avoidable drain on resources, including and especially carbon.

Have a robust shipping process

You need a documented shipping process to ensure that everyone gets everything they ordered sent where they want it sent with minimal delay. This process should cover literally every step in the order-dispatch process. That includes prior actions such as ordering packaging.

An effective shipping process will allow you to use the most sustainable and cost-effective methods for sending your items. For example, it will allow you to see when it’s better to send items in one package and when it’s better to send items in multiple packages.

It will eliminate the need to send items separately purely because the packer forgot (or didn’t know) to add them to the main order. It can also help to minimize returns since it should eliminate issues with goods arriving after they are needed.

Proactively manage your customers’ behavior

Try to encourage your customers to use more sustainable shipping options whenever possible. For example, offer free shipping by land and sea but charge a premium for air. You might also want to consider implementing a reward scheme and offering extra points for choosing more sustainable shipping options.

Earth Day is a Moment. Sustainability is a Journey.

By Julie Starr • April 7, 2025
Every April 22nd, Earth Day reminds us of our shared responsibility to care for the planet. It’s a powerful moment for reflection, recognition, and renewed commitment to environmental stewardship. But for companies like Taiga, Earth Day is not just a day—it's a checkpoint in a journey that spans all 365 days of the year. Beyond the Day: The Power of Year-Round Storytelling While Earth Day is an excellent opportunity to spotlight your company's environmental efforts, the true impact lies in consistent, transparent communication about your sustainability strategy. Customers, investors, employees, and partners are increasingly interested in how companies plan, act, and improve over time. To build trust and inspire action, companies should: Share clear targets: What are your goals for emissions reduction, circularity, or biodiversity? Make them specific and time-bound. Report results honestly: Celebrate wins and be candid about setbacks. Progress, not perfection, is the story. Connect efforts to impact: Highlight how your initiatives benefit ecosystems, communities, or supply chains. Leveraging Earth Day as a Strategic Moment Think of Earth Day as a milestone that anchors your broader communications. Some ideas: Launch or preview new initiatives that reinforce your long-term strategy. Tell human stories: Showcase employees, community members, or suppliers contributing to sustainability. Host interactive events: Webinars, volunteer days, or innovation showcases invite people into the journey. Publish a sustainability snapshot: A visual, engaging recap of the past year's progress. Engaging Stakeholders Year-Round To keep the momentum going beyond April: Create a sustainability content calendar to share updates, behind-the-scenes looks, and educational content. Invite feedback: Use surveys or listening sessions to understand stakeholder priorities and ideas. Collaborate: Partner with NGOs, academics, or startups aligned with your mission. Recognize champions: Celebrate employees and partners who go above and beyond. Bringing It Together: A Continuous Narrative Earth Day is a valuable opportunity to raise awareness, but lasting impact comes from building a continuous narrative. At Taiga, we see sustainability not as a series of campaigns but as a shared journey with our stakeholders . When we connect the dots between moments like Earth Day and the year-round work behind the scenes, we not only deepen engagement—we accelerate change. So this Earth Day, let’s celebrate progress and recommit to transparency, collaboration, and bold action. The planet needs more than promises. It needs a plan. And it needs all of us.

Greener Clicks: How to Reduce Your Environmental Impact with Sustainable Digital Marketing

By Julie Starr • March 31, 2025
In the race to decarbonize our world, one area often overlooked is digital marketing. While it might seem inherently clean compared to print or physical campaigns, our online activities have a real and measurable environmental footprint. From servers powering your website to emails filling up inboxes, every click, stream, and scroll contributes to carbon emissions. At Taiga Company, we believe digital strategies can be powerful and low-impact. Here’s how to get started. Optimize for a Low-Carbon Web Why it matters: Websites and digital ads are hosted on servers that consume electricity, often powered by fossil fuels. Every time a user loads your site or ad, it uses energy. How to reduce your impact: Host green: Choose web hosts that use renewable energy or offset emissions. Clean up your code: Streamlined, efficient code reduces load times and energy use. Compress and reduce images: Smaller files mean faster pages and fewer emissions. Limit heavy media: Videos and animations are carbon-intensive; use them mindfully. A faster, leaner website isn’t just better for the planet—it also boosts SEO and user experience. Email Marketing with Intention Why it matters: Every email sent, received, and stored requires energy. Multiply that by millions of sends, and the impact adds up. How to reduce your impact: Clean your lists: Remove inactive subscribers to avoid waste. Segment wisely: Only send emails to those who will truly benefit. Use plain-text when possible: It’s lower in data and often more accessible. Reduce frequency: Send fewer, higher-quality emails with genuine value. Intentional emailing reduces not only emissions but also improves deliverability and engagement. Sustainable SEO and Content Strategy Why it matters: Search engines crawl, index, and serve up billions of web pages daily. Thoughtless content and bloated sites add to the load. How to reduce your impact: Create evergreen content: Focus on high-quality pages that stay relevant longer. Streamline your site structure: Fewer clicks to find content = less energy use. Use minimal plugins and scripts: Especially ones that load on every page. Green your CMS: Some content management systems are more resource-efficient than others. Sustainable SEO isn’t just eco-friendly—it’s good strategy. Fewer, better pieces often perform better than content mills. Rethink Marketing Automation Why it matters: Automated emails, ads, and data syncing can create a lot of digital clutter. That clutter eats up storage and energy. How to reduce your impact: Audit regularly: Retire old workflows and outdated automations. Optimize syncing: Reduce how often and how much data is transferred. Segment with purpose: Better targeting means fewer wasted sends. Use expiration dates: Don’t let outdated content or assets live forever. Efficient automation can reduce emissions and improve performance. Digital marketing isn’t going away—and it shouldn’t. It offers powerful tools for connection, education, and growth. But like all tools, it can be used more sustainably. At Taiga Company, we’re committed to helping organizations lower their environmental impact without sacrificing reach or results. Sustainable digital marketing is not only possible; it’s essential. Ready to make your marketing aligned with your company's corporate sustainability plan? Let’s start the conversation.
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