Smart products, dumb packaging: why over-packaging is ruining the world

When you start tripping down the path towards low waste, you quickly realize how over-packaged our world is.

It starts in small ways:

• using flimsy produce bags for something like bananas (they come with their own packaging!) 🤯
• Individually packaged prunes in a plastic tube
• Bags, bags. So many bags.
• Polystyrene. Need I say more?

As you’ll note, these are all food examples. If you’d like some more truly obscene and absurd examples, have a look at these.

But what are some other places where packaging waste hides in plain sight?

Non-food product packaging. I’m talking about over-the-counter medications. Devices. Accessories.

Oy with the packaging 

These things are typically ensconced in Kraft paper boxes or plastic. Sometimes, it’s minimal, or non-existent. An example of minimal packaging would be a bottle of medication in just a bottle. No box. Or, a box that perfectly fits the bottle. (what a concept, right?)

But more and more, retail packaging is being overbuilt. One need not look any further than the much-bemoaned plastic blister packaging, which is essentially a finger-slicing piece of plastic. Why all the overbuilt stuff?

Presumably security. But, it’s not clear to me that a bigger package makes it any less stealable aside from it being harder to hide in a coat pocket or backpack.

It’s just so unnecessary. This excess of packaging is a waste, pure and simple.

Dumb design

It’s also just, really dumb. It used to be, products were put in complicated and painful packaging (ahem, blister packs!) because they needed to be theft-proof. They were, after all, sitting on a shelf, within easy reach of curious fingers. There was a time when theft-proof packaging made sense.

These days, high-value products are often tucked away behind counters or locked cabinets, making the need for theft-proof packaging moot.

IoPT (the Internet of Packaged Things)

Online retail is changing how we buy things, too. Instead of having to go into a shop, we can now buy products online and have them delivered in unmarked boxes straight from a warehouse, making it harder for thieves to steal (or at least, lowering the incentives: a plain cardboard box is perhaps not as thrilling as one marked, “Vitamix.”)

So do we need overly complicated, wasteful packaging anymore?

I think not.

Shipping air at the cost of the planet

There are two examples of overbuilt packaging in this post. You’ll have noted the feature image, showing the inside of a package of allergy medication. Why the air gap? It’s like this box was designed for two bottles and they just re-used it for one. A waste of packaging.

The second example is from my partner, Jan. He picked up a few “smart plugs” from a retail outlet here in Kelowna, to test them out. A sales associate had to procure them from behind a counter. Jan was dismayed to find, upon opening the box, that inside was a whole lotta air. Once again, it seemed as though this box had been designed for multiple products, but was used for just one. Waste!!

In a world concerned about excessive carbon emissions and at a time when more and more people are becoming aware of the sheer mountain of waste we generate in the west, you would think corporations and companies would be trying to reprioritize. Waste less. Be more efficient with fewer resources. To pull from something I was just researching for work, turn towards “lean manufacturing.” 

But no. It seems as though these companies are living under some kind of rock, ignorant of the fact that they are consuming more resources than they need.

Beyond recycling and EPR

Do you know what we need more than EPR (extended producer responsibility)? EPR considers the end life of a product and holds companies accountable for figuring that out. Here in BC, we have numerous EPR programs for things like plastic bags, batteries, and electronics. And, it’s fine. But we need more.

We need pre-EPR. Companies need to adhere to design criteria that minimize packaging waste in the first place. The effort needs to start further upstream. There is too much waste in the world and too few resources to keep making new stuff. The madness has to stop.

Corporations and businesses of the world: stop shipping air and overbuilding your packaging. It’s a waste of everybody’s time, energy, and resources.