Q: What can we do about ALL the individual shipping boxes that Amazon and other retailers send out? Recycling doesn't seem like enough. My friends and neighbors order every little thing online, and it all comes in separate boxes.

—Una Marie in San Diego

A: There is one solution that seems worth a try. It’s even sponsored by Amazon and some other retailers, including Overstock, Loft, REI, Levi’s, Asics, Ann Taylor, Uncommongoods, Bon-Ton, Viva Terra, Ecru, Bonobos, Scrubs & Beyond, eBags, Lou & Grey, and Cherry Mad.

You simply empty the box you got from Amazon, and then fill it with used clothing, accessories, and household stuff that you no longer need or want. Then go to givebackbox.com to download a U.S. Post Office or UPS address label to Goodwill for free. Attach the label to the box and drop it off at any post office or UPS service, which will send it to your nearest Goodwill outlet. You can even schedule a pickup for the box at home; any box that conforms to UPS or postal service regulations will work, not just Amazon boxes. Goodwill stores pay for the shipments, which they then put on the market.

Seems to be one sensible way to reuse a box while preventing at least some of the 10.5 million tons of textiles from being trashed each year.