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0 pointsmarkbnj6y ago0 comments

> Blue Apron just seems so unnecessary. You still have to do all the work!

Not to mention the impact of the packaging materials and shipping. I can't speak to Blue Apron but my daughter used Freshly for a bit and I was shocked to the point of laughter at what was showing up at our house once a week: a big cardboard box with this thick, plastic-wrapped insulating material fitted to all six faces, and inside were nestled six individual meals, also packaged in cardboard with some plastic. My daughter told me they claim some level of recyclability for the insulating material, and of course the box can probably be shredded and re-boxified, but I bet 90+ percent goes right in the can and out to the curb.

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colechristensen6y ago

Certainly not as much, but there is still quite a lot of invisible packaging you don't see up the grocery store supply line.

Just about everything in the grocery store comes in a big cardboard box.

Shivetya6y ago

However grocery stores and other businesses in that chain have bailers for the cardboard and other processes to insure recycling.

blue apron's fault is trying to enter a space too easily replicated by others including the very grocery stores who have everything mostly in place except for the recipes.

it wasn't long after services like Blue Apron came about and were newsworthy before many grocery stores started having prepackaged fresh items you could mix and match for a quick meal.

sachdevap6y ago

And just about everything that Blue Apron or any of these other companies package comes with similar invisible packaging, so the delta is still the same per amount of veggies. Or is your point something different that I missed?

Also note that the delta is a big big percentage of the base packaging, and I am willing to bet it's over 100%, if not 500%, just cause there are so many packages made from few large boxes.

hef198986y ago

Plus the existing physical stores have the advantage of economies of scale. I always wonder what that means for the whole B2C e-commerce supply chain compared to individual traffic to brick and mortar stores.

Kiro6y ago

> but I bet 90+ percent goes right in the can and out to the curb

Source? Or are you just speculating based on nothing?

Kiro6y ago

Just to elaborate: The comment is basically saying they are lying without any proof of such. Is it OK to blatantly and unfoundedly accuse companies of fraud like that?

zrobotics6y ago

This isn't an accusation of fraud. Note that the post you quoted includes the words "I bet", so you should know its speculation. Accusing them of fraud would be claiming the packaging materials aren't recyclable. Note that the OP's claim is that most of the packaging probably doesn't get recycled. I don't find this at all far-fetched, as many people who are environmentally conscious enough to care about recycling everything will also be bothered by the amount of packaging material.

Recyclable materials that end up in a landfill are no better than non-recyclables in that same landfill, as even organic materials don't really decompose in a landfill.

markbnjOP6y ago

> Just to elaborate: The comment is basically saying they are lying

The comment absolutely does not accuse them of lying. They claim the material is recyclable, not that it is actually being recycled. I don't contest their claim that it can be recycled, and I simply speculate that most of it isn't.

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colechristensen6y ago

Certainly not as much, but there is still quite a lot of invisible packaging you don't see up the grocery store supply line.

Just about everything in the grocery store comes in a big cardboard box.

Shivetya6y ago

However grocery stores and other businesses in that chain have bailers for the cardboard and other processes to insure recycling.

blue apron's fault is trying to enter a space too easily replicated by others including the very grocery stores who have everything mostly in place except for the recipes.

it wasn't long after services like Blue Apron came about and were newsworthy before many grocery stores started having prepackaged fresh items you could mix and match for a quick meal.

sachdevap6y ago

Also note that the delta is a big big percentage of the base packaging, and I am willing to bet it's over 100%, if not 500%, just cause there are so many packages made from few large boxes.

hef198986y ago

Kiro6y ago

> but I bet 90+ percent goes right in the can and out to the curb

Source? Or are you just speculating based on nothing?

Kiro6y ago

Just to elaborate: The comment is basically saying they are lying without any proof of such. Is it OK to blatantly and unfoundedly accuse companies of fraud like that?

zrobotics6y ago

Recyclable materials that end up in a landfill are no better than non-recyclables in that same landfill, as even organic materials don't really decompose in a landfill.

markbnjOP6y ago

> Just to elaborate: The comment is basically saying they are lying

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