More Americans are turning to subscriptions to serve a variety of needs, from clothing to meals to cat litter. Subscription e-commerce sales totaled nearly $33.5 billion in 2022, a 15% increase over the previous year, according to Insider Intelligence, which predicted it would keep growing at a similar rate for the next two years. But subscription services, with the exception of meal kits, can have an environmental dark side: overconsumption and excessive returns.
