Excessive Product Packaging
- How a product is packaged is critical for what it stands for and how well it sells.
- Product packaging is usually discarded quickly and ends up in landfills.
- Excessive packaging requires more materials, more resources to manufacture, and more costs.
- Reducing the amount of packaging reduces carbon dioxide emissions because of less power and fuel used for production and transportation. This is a crucial first step towards a more sustainable economy.
- Reusing and recycling as much as possible and disposing at landfills as a last resort is crucial too.
- Government intervention is necessary because consumers and producers are limited by costs and their initiatives are not enough.
- In Japan, producers and consumers are taxed by the amount of packaging produced and disposed.
- China has laws governing how product packaging should be proportional to the actual product.
- Laws are critical for setting the framework in which green consumerism can occur.
- Consumer awareness on environmental conservation is increasing so retailers acknowledge this and exert pressure on retailers.
- The challenge is to make "clever innovative packaging designs that are simple, attractive, distinguishable and able to embody the brand’s message".
- Packaging should be user-friendly so it does not have to be destroyed when opened. Also it should be normal sizes and shapes because odd shapes and large sizes are not storage friendly and don't last long.
A lot of products have excessive amounts of packaging, especially take-out food. This packaging protects the product and represents the brand, but its really unnecessary to have two or three layers when its all being thrown away. Improvements in product development, including packaging, could help establish sustainable development and living. For example, eco-design could be applied to packaging; asking questions on what materials are used, how the packaging is manufactured, how it is used and how it is disposed. Eco-design of a product and its packaging is intended to not only enhance environmental conservation but save long-term production costs. Lots of packaging requires more materials and resources to manufacture it, so it costs more. Friends of the Earth Development manager Janet Fok said we "should start with prevention - avoid waste products at the source" That means cutting back on packaging, which would save time, money, and the environment.
They way food is packaged is very bad and restaurant owners can change that. There are unnecassary bags and boxes when all your food need is one bag. We can fix this problem by using eco-friendly brown bags or boxes instead of plastic. It will be hard for those owners, and customers, to not have proper packaging but we won't harm our planet by using environmental-friendly supplies. Also, using less packaging will save everyone lots of money: the money to buy the bags and boxes, the money to transport all of that when thrown away to landfills, and then the money to clean it off the streets and the ocean.
They way food is packaged is very bad and restaurant owners can change that. There are unnecassary bags and boxes when all your food need is one bag. We can fix this problem by using eco-friendly brown bags or boxes instead of plastic. It will be hard for those owners, and customers, to not have proper packaging but we won't harm our planet by using environmental-friendly supplies. Also, using less packaging will save everyone lots of money: the money to buy the bags and boxes, the money to transport all of that when thrown away to landfills, and then the money to clean it off the streets and the ocean.