The COVID-19 pandemic made online shopping an almost essential component of our daily lives, but the dramatic rise of e-commerce has been accompanied by heavier scrutiny regarding its environmental impact. In particular, customers have grown increasingly concerned over the excessive use of packaging and other wasteful practices often found in e-commerce, which are seen by some as an inevitable tradeoff for the convenience of online shopping.
Coupang, however, has consistently worked to break such tradeoffs, serving as the model for green e-commerce around the globe. Through our innovative optimization technologies and end-to-end logistics network, Coupang has been able to achieve significant breakthroughs in eco-friendly business practices. The story of how Rocket Fresh has evolved in just the last two years since its inception is a case in point.
Just a few months after launching Rocket Fresh in 2019, Coupang made the move to eliminate Styrofoam packaging, moving away from the industry standard. The company is able to maintain the temperature of fresh products through less environmentally harmful means, using cardboard boxes while leveraging our nationwide cold chain logistics network and trucks’ capacities. We also reduced the size of packaging, allowing trucks to deliver more goods per trip and thereby reduce their carbon emissions.
Not content to settle for incremental solutions, we introduced our reusable Fresh Bags in 2020 to eliminate most disposable packaging altogether. Coupang deploys millions of Fresh Bags to deliver groceries and fresh foods to customers. The customers can leave their empty bags outside their doorsteps to be picked up by Coupang’s drivers on their next delivery. These bags are then brought to our centers to be washed and sterilized in washing machines specifically designed for that purpose. In addition, by optimizing our truck routes, trucks that once returned to our centers empty are now coming back with returned goods from customers and eco-bags for reuse.
Wowing customers through tradeoff-breaking innovation is a hallmark of Coupang’s business, and our green e-commerce practices are just one example. Our sustainability measures and innovations have enabled us to make a significant impact, including the elimination of cardboard boxes in over 85% of deliveries, as well as the elimination of over 100 million in Styrofoam box use per year. These measures had the equivalent impact to planting 8 million trees that year. Coupang is leading the way in the green e-commerce revolution, and we look forward to raising the bar for sustainable business and a differentiated customer experience around the globe.
