Thinking of returning an online purchase? It might end up in landfill
An estimated $1.5 billion worth of brand-new online shopping purchases ended up in Australian landfills after customers returned them in 2024, according to a report published by waste redistribution charity Good360 on Thursday.
Data featured in the report and analysed by Deloitte shows Australia is throwing out $4.5 billion in unsold goods every year, a 79 per cent increase from the $2.5 billion wasted in 2021, associated with a rise in returns of online purchases.
According to annual data published by Australia Post, more Australian households (9.8 million) shopped online in 2024 than in any other year. Of these households, 18 per cent made an online purchase at least once a week.
The Good360 report said an estimated 30 per cent of all clothing returned after being bought online was not resold, and most of these items ended up as waste.
While most electronics are resold or refurbished after being returned online, estimates for the number of groceries and furniture that end up in landfills despite being new are far higher, with virtually all food and grocery items wasted.
This is despite the pressure on landfills in major Australian cities, including Sydney, which is on track to run out of landfill space by 2030 and which had the greatest volume of online shopping orders by volume per capita in 2024. Victoria is forecast to begin running out of landfill capacity by the mid-2030s.
In its 10 years of operating, Good360 has redistributed 43.7 million brand-new items to more than 4.8 million people across a network of 4800 charities and disadvantaged schools. More than one in eight Australians live in poverty and are in need of household goods, with particular demand for hygiene products, clothing, furniture and educational supplies.
Companies that donate goods to Good360 include Harvey Norman, Colgate, Big W, Nike and Optus.
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