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.

Landfills in major cities are running out of room.

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.

Inside the Good360 warehouse, from where items are redistributed.Credit: Good360

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.

Although the charity has had a significant reach, the issue worsened as online shopping increased after the pandemic.

Good360 founder and managing director Alison Covington warned against viewing businesses as solely responsible for this waste when there are hidden costs involved in reintegrating returned stock into inventories without increasing return costs for customers.

“Online sales went up and people were more comfortable buying online, so therefore things were being returned because they might order three sizes and then keep the one size that fitted them, send back the other two,” Covington said.

“That then is a problem for businesses as they’re all struggling with the ways to bring that stock into inventory, and it’s very costly.”

Instead, Covington hopes consumers will petition more businesses to partner with charities such as Good360 and that state governments will also partner with them.

IKEA is another of Good360’s existing partners. The retail giant’s country sustainability manager, Renee Robson, said the business would not be able to meet its sustainability targets without such charities.

Since partnering with Good360 in 2023, IKEA Australia has provided it with more than 8000 items valued at a total of about $500,000. In the last year, Good360 has kept five tonnes of IKEA goods out of landfills.

“We all need to know that the only way forward is circular. We cannot continue with the finite resources on the planet if we do not become circular,” Robson said.

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