#@&%!! Packaging!

Lost in all the discussion about “global warming” (more appropriately known as “climate change”) and “carbon footprints” is a practical discussion of conservation and reduction practices for the average household. There are steps we can take, and insist upon from retailers and manufacturers, that will go a long way to reduce our reliance on petrochemical products and overall energy consumption.

Quite near the top of my list is excessive packaging.

I needed to pick up a longer USB cable for my printer. There was a time when such products would come nicely coiled and packaged in a cardboard sleeve. Not any more.

I’ve seen medical products that haven’t been as well-sealed as this cable. I suspect that a sample of the Ebolavirus could be placed in one of these hermetically-sealed packages, tossed into the back of a Dakar Rally racer and driven along the course without fear of anyone being infected.

Heck, I remember a time when items would just sit out on a shelf or in a bin, without any packaging at all. Really, when you need an eraser or a pen, why do you also need 40 cm2 of cardboard and shrink wrap?

Have you bought a memory card for your digital camera? Why does something half the size of a tea bag need to be in a package the size of a bar of soap?

And if you can't find a utility knife or a pair of scissors to open these packages, you're liable to either end up cutting yourself trying to rip it open, or not get it open at all.

Although I understand why retail stores will package small items in larger containers – to reduce the likelihood of shoplifting – I see no reason why items have to come from the manufacturer in oversized packages. Music stores have been utilizing individual, removable cases for CDs for years.

But let’s be sensible about the amount of packaging items are coming in.

Even gum, for crying out loud, is over-packaged!

Remember when you would buy a pack of gum, and there would be a half-dozen sticks wrapped in paper and foil, inside of a compact foil packet? Now, pieces of gum come on blister packs, stuffed into cardboard boxes the size of a pack of smokes.

Imagine if cigarettes were packaged like that – five individual cigarettes on a blister sheet, with five sheets per box?

Some drugs – both over-the-counter and prescription – come on blister sheets, and I can’t figure out why this is. I’ve seen headache capsules and allergy medication, side-by-side on the shelf, a bottle of 24 and a blister pack of 24. This makes no sense.

I don’t know how much of the packaging is made from recycled materials and how much is virgin, but either way there is energy consumption required to both produce it and run the packaging lines.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t until I got back “home” (to my motel room) that I looked at the package in amazement and disgust. Had I thought at the time, I might have declined to purchase it, opting instead to search (perhaps fruitlessly) for one offered elsewhere with less packaging. I’d return the cable on principle, except I already fought to cut open the packaging, so the point is somewhat lost now.

It may seem like a little thing, but with landfill space at a premium, and given the efforts to divert as much waste as possible from landfills, why are we allowing manufacturers and retailers to foist so much waste product on us in the first place?

Perhaps it’s time we, as consumers, began rejecting products that are excessively packaged. We might find that retailers and manufacturers amenable to changing their methods – I suspect it would be cheaper to package most products in bulk, rather than individually.

But… that’s just my opinion.