Excessive Packaging
- How a product is packaged is critical to what it stands for and how well it sells
- Product packaging is usually discarded quickly, ending up in landfills
- Product packaging actually has immense impact across the supply chain
- Packaging plays the role in representing the brand and protecting the products
- Eco-design can be fully applied to packaging; asking questions on what materials are used, how the pack aging is manufactured, how it is used and how it is disposed address all the relevant concerns
- Excessive packaging necessitates more materials, more resources to manufacture, so entailing more costs
- Reducing the amount of packaging, which reduces CO2 emission as less power and fuel are used for production and transportation, is conceptually critical in taking the first step towards a sustainable circular economy
- Reusing and recycling as much as possible with disposing at the landfills as the last resort
- Committing fully towards green consumerism requires comprehensive government support
- In one of the ‘greenest’ consumer societies on earth, Japan, stiff penalties, surcharges and taxes coerce producers and consumers to pay careful attention to the amount of packaging produced and disposed
- Brand owners, manufacturers, retailers and consumers, industry associations and NGOs are actively involved to go beyond minimum legal requirements
- Laws therefore are critical in setting up the right framework in which green consumerism can take place, however particular laws are not effective if they stand alone
- The challenge is to shift the emphasis to making clever innovative packaging designs that are simple, attractive, distinguishable and able to embody the brand’s message
- For manufacturers and brand owners, besides complying with legal requirements, they have to cater to consumers’ demands
- Ultimately, the emphasis should be placed on creative and simplified use of materials
- Packaging is user-friendly so that it does not need to be destroyed when accessing the product, and therefore can house the product for the product’s entire life
- A longer life for the pack aging is facilitated significantly by its shape and size
- Odd shapes and large sizes are not storage friendly
- Despite differences across markets, the undeniable global trend is towards greater environmental awareness
- A glimpse of future developments for green packaging is highlighted by the soon-to-be- released Comparative Packaging Assessment (COMPASS) software by the US-based Sustainable Pack aging Coalition
- COMPASS is an online application that allows packaging professionals to assess environmental impacts of their packaging designs using a life cycle approach
Economy is always on the go and were competing vigorously. Things get bought and things get sold. There is no doubt that we are focusing on the $$. With this mindset, we are overly packaging our products so excessively that it causes problems for the environment. There is more to it than it meets the eye of our consumers. Product packaging is most often discarded into landfills in a short period of time and also pressures across the supply chain. Product packaging utilizes a lot of materials and resources into making them and that's where we need to pay attention to. Most of the time, we make them with items and accessories that are way more than enough and at the same time it costs more. Eco-design can be fully applied to packaging; asking questions on what materials are used, how the pack aging is manufactured, how it is used and how it is disposed address all the relevant concerns. Other pathways can be reducing the amount of packaging which lessens CO2 emissions, reusing and recycling as much as possible before disposal, etc. However, it is more powerful to spread out the word in a more wide perspective would need to require comprehensive government support. For example, in Japan, they tax the producers and consumers for how much packaging is produced and disposed. This allows for an increase in incentives for brand owners, manufacturers, retailers and consumers, industry associations and NGOs to be actively involved to go beyond minimum legal requirements. Laws therefore are critical in setting up the right framework in which green consumerism can take place, however particular laws are not effective if they stand alone. Regardless of whatever the markets are, the main point is to have greater environmental awareness. Overall, the challenge is to shift the emphasis to making clever innovative packaging designs that are simple, attractive, distinguishable and able to embody the brand’s message while maintianing an eco-friendly environment.
This isn't nearly as surprising as I first encountered this article. Its pretty common to see that some products have excessive packaging materials and I do find that wierd. I bet sometimes there are those moments where we try to open up something and it takes so much effort to just get the thing out. I think that we should make our products much more simpler and creative while still sending out the message for what the product is. There should be more consideration for producing their products before releasing it on sale. I mean why waste so much supply when you can create it with smaller amounts that have simple creativity which still captures the eye and not using as much resources and not giving off too much CO2 and in the end make that $$ anyways.