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Online Retail's Having A Good Year. So Is Cardboard.

NPR
Published August 19, 2016 at 1:52 PM EDT
Empty boxes are stacked in the packaging department at an Amazon Fulfillment Center in England on Nov. 28, 2013. (Andrew Yates/AFP/Getty Images)
Empty boxes are stacked in the packaging department at an Amazon Fulfillment Center in England on Nov. 28, 2013. (Andrew Yates/AFP/Getty Images)

Walmart announced Thursday that its e-commerce business jumped nearly 12 percent in its latest quarter, a good sign just 10 days after it announced plans to buy online retailer Jet.com for $3.3 billion.

Last year, Americans spent about $350 billion online, with Walmart’s rival Amazon leading the pack. And as e-commerce increases, so does shipping and packaging. Specifically, cardboard.

Here & Now‘s Peter O’Dowd speaks with Bob Gedert of the National Recycling Coalition about what the boom in online retail means for cardboard recycling.

Guest

Bob Gedert, president of the National Recycling Coalition and director of Austin Resource Recovery in Austin, Texas.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.