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Every year, on the Friday after Thanksgiving, 90 million people rush into stores or onto their computers to get the best deals from big companies or locally owned businesses. Whether it's to get holiday shopping done, purchase something for fun, or buy necessities, Black Friday is considered the official start to the holiday shopping season. For many retail stores, it extends through the weekend. But 90 million people all shopping on the same day has devastating consequences. Are the big savings on Black Friday worth the irreversible effects it has on the planet?
Black Friday originated in the 1960s when struggling stores could earn a solid profit off large crowds of tourists in Philadelphia who came into the city to get holiday shopping done. Philadelphia police started using the term Black Friday to describe the chaos of all the shoppers. All stores started discounting items for the crowds, and the day became an annual event. It’s now a day for retail stores to unload overstocked inventory and for the government to track the country's economic growth from that year. The day is great for local small businesses to make themselves more known to the community and to make a strong profit.
When shopping on Black Friday, many consumers are unaware of the harmful effects it has on the planet. According to cleanhub.com, an estimated 429,000 tons of greenhouse gasses are generated into the environment every year because of Black Friday, and 80% of purchases end up in landfill. These numbers are predicted to rise due to sales growing rapidly by 5% yearly. In 2023, nine billion dollars were spent on Black Friday, and by 2028 it is predicted that consumers will spend 12.3 billion dollars.(Climatenews.org) President of the sustainability club Charlotte Goldstein expressed, “The real problem with Black Friday is it encourages a lot of consumerism, so everything you just want more and more of.”
Companies like REI, Patagonia, and IKEA advertise themselves as being green on the busy shopping day. All of the profits Patagonia earns on Black Friday are donated to an environmental charity, REI closes, and IKEA implements Green Friday where customers can bring in a used piece of furniture in exchange for a voucher. Charlotte vocalized how these green policies don't make much of a difference. “I think it's really a form of greenwashing… I absolutely think they do it just for popularity. They don't really care about all of these issues. If you look historically in the past a lot of these companies didn't appeal to sustainability at all and now that it's such a big issue, I feel like companies just try to appeal to that.”
Black Friday has negative effects, but isn’t going away anytime soon, and with people not being informed of the harm the shopping causes; it’s likely consumerism is only going to increase. So how can local shoppers in Denver enjoy Black Friday while maintaining sustainable habits?
When talking to East students, the majority said they spend around $100 and prefer to shop online so they can skip the crowds and get the best discounts. Sophomore Lola Carhart says: “I usually shop online on Black Friday just because it’s easier and the deals are better.” But while shopping online may be more convenient, consumers are encouraged to shop at local small businesses because the materials online companies use to ship items can be non-biodegradable, and packaging materials contribute to 1.8 billion tons of carbon emissions annually. Small businesses use less material in their items, and shopping in person reduces the amount of returns, which decreases the amount of landfill that comes from Black Friday.
While Black Friday may have devastating consequences, it’s not too late to make a change. The negative effects it contributes to can be reduced by shopping at small businesses more, buying items in person rather than online, and trying to avoid companies that promote fast fashion like Shein, Zara, and H&M. When shopping, looking for things with longevity rather than cheap items that will last no more than a year will contribute to reducing the amount of landfill Black Friday generates. Be aware of retailers who tend to greenwash their products by making sure they practice sustainable habits like green packaging if they claim to be eco-friendly. These small tweaks in shopping habits can contribute to a more sustainable future.