Katia Vladimirova at the Grand Débat: taxing shipping returns for consumer goods

Last Friday, November 10, our collaborator Dr. Katia Vladimirova joined Le Grand Débat on RTS - Radio Télévision Suisse.

The question was whether Switzerland should tax shipping returns of consumer goods - with most of those being fast fashion purchases from platforms that offer free shipping and returns. The volume of parcels managed by Swiss Post doubled over the past ten years, pointing at online purchasing as the main driver.

Two other participants of the debate were politician Mathilde Crevoisier who is bringing the discussion up to the Swiss Parliament and Nicolas Inglard who represented a point of view of commercial interests in the debate. Dr. Katia Vladimirova provided background and explained why people are buying so much fast fashion, making a point that overconsumption is not good for consumers and it's not good for the planet.

Dr. Vladimirova agreed that it is necessary to raise awareness among the citizens about the impacts of fast fashion to change their practices - but doing so without regulations at the same time will likely not make much difference.

Link to the recording / debate starts on minute 17:37: https://www.rts.ch/play/tv/forum/video/forum-video-presente-par-esther-coquoz-et-valentin-emery?urn=urn:rts:video:14460694