What: The continued use of plastic throughout the retailing and distribution process is adding to fashion’s waste problem.

Why it is important: While retailers are making greater sustainability efforts, the plastic problem in retail persists as there is no clear way to eliminate plastic from the retail system.

From mailers, hangers, to pallet wraps, polybags, tags, and more, retail uses a large amount of plastic.

In Europe, 18 countries have banned single-use plastic bags, while there are several US states with similar laws, in the US, 100 billion single-use plastic shopping bags are used each year in addition to billions of hangers and plastic polybags. Globally, less than 14% of all plastic packaging used is recycled.

While greater efforts towards sustainability are being made, there is no clear way to eliminate plastic from retail in the near term as the current plastic solutions are convenient and cost-effective and every major retailer requires individual bagging.

Some businesses have turned to biodegradable polybags but still run into issues with complying to shipping requirements from bigger companies such as using plastic hangers or buying specific mailers.

Nordstrom is one of the retailers finding solutions on how to handle its plastic waste with a goal to reduce single-use plastic in its value chain by 50%. In 2022, the company replaced its Nordstrom Rack plastic shopping bags with paper bags, reducing its plastic use by 853 tons. The department store group also sourced half of its new bags from a domestic supplier to reduce carbon emissions.

Through its BeautyCycle program, Nordstrom has reported 25 tons of beauty products being recycled. Additionally, the retailer trains employees on packaging reduction efforts and also has a hanger reuptake program. Despite these widespread efforts, the retailer still relies on polybags and requires brands to send items in individual bags.

Innovation may be necessary in order for retailers to reach their plastic reduction goals and reduce their plastic reliance as there are no scalable solutions.

One potential outlet for retailer and brand plastics is companies like Trex, a billion-dollar company who pays retailers for their trash and then uses the postconsumer waste to make its products. This is a win-win situation as the retailers get paid for recycling but also don’t have to pay for their waste.

Inside retail’s plastic bag problem – and efforts to curb it