Earth Day 2021: B-Stock, Sustainability, & the Circular Economy

Happy Earth Day! As a company focused on sustainability, at B-Stock, we celebrate every day like it’s Earth Day! This means every day is a chance to promote a more circular economy.

As more and more companies are working to create sustainable business practices, we’re proud to be a part of their circular reverse logistics strategy. How so? Let’s break it down.

What is the Circular Economy?

The Circular Economy has three main components:

• Design out waste and pollution
• Keep products and materials in use
• Regenerate natural systems

Most importantly, adopting a circular economy could reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions by 22–44% in 2050 (Ellen MacArthur Foundation). Not only that, but the Circular Economy could generate $4.5 trillion of additional economic output by 2030 (Accenture).

Some huge brands are already adopting more sustainable practices that you might recognize. H&M, IKEA, and Nike, to name a few. We hope to see more companies taking this approach going forward!

B-Stock & Sustainability

Earth Day is our favorite holiday at B-Stock! We’re proud to partner with our buyers and sellers to support zero waste initiatives and a more circular economy. It’s kind of like our bread and butter.

How liquidation inventory plays a role…

It’s simple. Liquidating helps keep inventory out of landfills and introduces it to the secondary market. This is where their second life begins. Subsequently, this inventory then goes on to fuel small businesses and entrepreneurs with merchandise to resell. Most importantly, keeping it in use in the economy. Which helps promote that circular economy we talked about earlier!

In fact, in 2020 alone 120m items were sold across the B-Stock recommerce platform. To clarify, that’s nearly 400m pounds of merchandise kept in use!

What does that look like by category?

That’s a lot of merchandise, right?  As a result, our recommerce platform is split into tons of categories. In addition to that, there are different product conditions like overstock, online returns, and damaged. Even salvage inventory finds a home with our buyers! Some top reselling categories include home & garden, appliances, apparel, consumer electronics, and mobile.

So, let’s break it down by a few best in class categories:

Consumer electronics:

In 2019, Americans generated about 46 pounds of e-waste per person (techdump.org)

B-Stock gave 125 million pounds of consumer electronics a second and third life.

Consumer electronics is a huge category. This includes computers, laptops, monitors, speakers, gaming consoles, controllers, fitness trackers, smartwatches, and more. To sum up, it’s any electronic device that’s not mobile.

Apparel:

Discarded clothing accounts for the largest percentage of textile waste in landfills (epa.gov)

Just last year, B-Stock sold 35 million articles of clothing into the recommerce market.

Women’s, men’s, and children’s apparel, as well as activewear, footwear, and more, make up this category.

Home and garden:

9M home and garden items were sold on B-Stock.

Home and garden is another big one. For example, it’s not only home decor items, but also tools, hardware, kitchen & bath, outdoor patio sets, small appliances, flooring, and more.

Appliances:

B-Stock sold over 300,000 major appliance units in 2020.

Here, we’re talking about the ‘Big 5’ on B-Stock. This includes washers, dryers, refrigerators/freezers, dishwashers, and ovens/stoves/cooktops.

Check out our Earth Day 2021: B-Stock, Sustainability, & the Circular Economy infographic for more!

We facilitate a better way for retailers to handle their returned and excess stock. And in turn, be resold in the secondary market by registered business buyers in the B-Stock network. Our B-Stock buyers!

Reselling is becoming increasingly popular. As more people shop secondhand and look for alternative outlets, sites like Poshmark, thredUP, and Mercari also grow in popularity. In fact, online secondhand is set to grow 69% between 2019 and 2021. A number that is sure to rise!

If you’re a business ready to start sourcing inventory you feel good about, why not start with liquidation inventory? And for retailers, consider using B-Stock as your solution for excess inventory. Together, we can contribute to a more sustainable and circular economy! After Earth Day, and beyond.