Why take home wasteful packaging? (Star Tribune-Mpls)

[lindisfarne]

Editorial: Why take home wasteful packaging?
British government advises shoppers to just say no, thanks.
Published: November 24, 2006
Today officially begins the season of long waits in the checkout line, with its special opportunities for contemplating two mysteries of modern life: How manufacturers manage to keep increasing the amounts of packaging material wrapped around their products, and why consumers continue to tolerate it.
<snip>
The European Union, along with Australia and other countries, has decided the problem is serious enough to justify laws against excess packaging, enforceable with steep fines. Americans can learn from those examples.

In the meantime, here's a solution available to everyone -- and commended to British shoppers this holiday season by their environment minister, Ben Bradshaw:

After paying for your purchases, unpack them in the store and ask where, on the premises, the trash can be tossed. Be nice about it, of course, but be firm. The message you're sending up the chain of commerce -- that consumers are no longer willing to bear the burdens of wasteful packaging -- is one that needs to be heard.

[Vexatious Ape]

1. Yes. There is too much waste involved in packaging.

However, I know from experience seeing that I work in the freight business that a lot of packaging is necessary in order to protect items from breaking in the shipping process.

[Crayson]

3. but this is no longer necessary once it is on the shelf in the store

a) because it's gonna be picked and handled with care personally by the buyer
b) after the item is bouth it's the buyers risk, therefore the store can't argue that all the packing is necessary. It's the buyers risk and the buyers decision.

In Europe you often have waste taxes. The more waste you produce, the more you pay.
Therefor the people are very "waste aware". And there are laws that you can unwrap whatever you buy in the store and leave the packageing.

This is the practical way how consumers tell stores "I want the product, not the waste".
And then as stores have to deal with the excess waste they start to pass the news on to the manufacturers.

Another problem is "product placement" which in other words means "wrap your small product in a BIIIIG package, else the consumers might buy the other one".
a)this makes the product more prominent.
b)this plays your most basic instincts that you somehow "feel" you'll get more for the money when you buy the big package instead the smaller one from the competition.


People need to be AWARE what they buy.
- You can save money
- You can make a political statement and influence companies

Just recently some major food company had this revelation, when they hired a designer to create their new packaging for some choclats. Transparent hardcase plastic instead of the usual cardbox board. People didn't buy it because it bigger, more expensive and more environment polluting with still only the same cookies in it. It was a major flop and hurt the reputation of the firm and they went back to the old packaging.

[cornermouse]

2. Why take home wasteful packaging?

Because without a chisel and hammer you can't get the stupid things open.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

4. My single complaint about Costco. Otherwise, I love shopping and buying there.

But, their store is full of those impossibly packaged items in that molded hard plastic.

I wonder if I requested they open those items, how they would respond. MKJ

[China_cat]

5. Protection from breakage isn't the only reason for

all that packaging. It makes it much harder to shoplift those items.

[brokensymmetry]

6. I like the idea..but...

what about product tampering? I hate the excess
packaging as much as anyone, but I don't want to
get something deadly in the products I use.

Now it's true that the probability is low - say,
one chance in a billion. But it does happen...like,
say, the fellow who modified the old Tylenol capsules
with cyanide, in order to make the stock go down.

Yep, really happened. How do you prevent it?

[Nihil]

7. Recycle it

On items that are potentially vulnerable to tampering, use reusable
and/or recyclable cases (like the lockable cases they have round
computer games, CDs & DVDs to prevent people from removing the media).

Most things sold with excessive packaging do not fall into this
category - and I really don't think that baby-food jars or drug capsule
containers are the target of this drive - so the original premise
still stands.

(Edit: I mean recycle the packaging at the checkout as with the DVD cases
and the anti-theft tags on clothing rather than take it home to recycle!)

[brokensymmetry]

9. Now, that sounds like a good idea! n/t

.

[LiberalEsto]

8. We need to find ways to recycle the packaging

Those plastic food containers they use at many stores absolutely drive me crazy. They're large, bulky and tough, and you can only keep and re-use so many. I can't buy a cake at my supermarket unless it's in a two-part huge plastic container. Salad bar items go into clear plastic "clamshells" of varying sizes, and so on.

Since my county in Maryland only recycles plastic bottles that "have a neck", millions of these containers get trashed and incinerated here every year.

I wish funding were made available for researching ways to re-use the plastic in these containers. There should be a deposit on them, the same way some states handle glass bottles. Or manufacturers and stores should pay a tax to use these containers. This would provide some funds for recycling research and finding alternative container materials.

[lindisfarne]

10. It's not just packaging that needs to be recycled. Hangars aren't recycled for

many items, especially the ones that come on childrens clothing (the worthless plastic ones that form a square so the item looks good hanging on it).

And as someone else mentioned, a lot could be accomplished by using reusable (plastic or recyclable plastic) containers to store items for which theft is an issue or which could get damaged without the extra packaging. As someone mentioned, they manage to deal with all these problems in Europe and use less packaging.

The problem is, the corporations are lazy and don't want to spend an extra cent. Thus, they argue they can't afford to take chemicals out of their products that are unsafe. Yet, they'll manage to reformulate their products so they can continue to sell on the European market, which has passed laws protecting consumers from these chemicals. We in the US are too stupid and don't call the corporations on these ridiculous statements. Thank god the EU does.

[NMDemDist2]

11. freakin bags! I never go shopping without my canvas bags

those cheap plastic bags BREED if you let them in the house and leave them in the dark

I can recycle the plastic and the glass and the paper, no prob but those dratted bags are the worst!

canvas bags, picked up at a thrift store for $1, washable, reuseable and they won't cut your hand in half if you put a bit of weight in them