New 3M Scotch tape packaging

I recently came across this article about 3M re-envisioning the reuse of their Scotch Tape dispenser. What are your thoughts - will it work? Will 2 cents per dispenser to charity motivate consumers to bring it back? Have reuse schemes come of age?

I recall The Body Shop had a bottle reuse/refill program whereby you could refill your bottles of product and get a discount. It was eventually discontinued due to lack of uptake. For cosmetics, perhaps this is the case, since people buy cosmetics to "feel beautiful" - is this the case when you have a dirty old bottle?

On the other hand, there are things like printer cartridges which seem to be quite profitable to reuse, with very high reusage rates - they have made it easy to do so by providing a box and postage to send back to the manufacturer, i.e. HP.

But with low value products such as a plastic tape dispenser, will it fly (literally and figuratively)? Will consumers be motivated by altruism to bring back their tape dispensers? Let's see how 3M makes it easy for the customer to do so.

Big brands and sustainable drink packaging.

I came across this article on Beverage Daily - some of the projected changes are pretty impressive, and I wonder if these may be too ambitious.

Packaging reduction at Tesco/Boxed water

I have always applauded Tesco for being at the leading edge of environmental initiatives among mainstream grocery stores.

Two days ago, I got wind of their new initiative for customers to leave their packaging waste at the till. It is currently only in trial phase at several stores, but it was a consumer-driven initiative. It may cause them some waste disposal headaches, but overall I see it as a way not only to do the right thing, but also to see, from the waste collected, where they could improve their packaging design. I am also not sure how it will work in terms of non-private label supplier waste, if they will have to subsidize the plan or not. I hope that they publish the results of this trial soon!

Globally, there has been a bit of a kerfuffle raised around bottled water. Of course, water bottles are theoretically recyclable and are made of valuable materials, but I read that something like 75% of bottled water ends up as litter, in landfills, or awfully enough, in the great Pacific garbage patch. This company has come out with Boxed Water. An interesting way to package water, certainly, but it is packaged in a Tetra Pak, which is often difficult to recycle and has limited recycling options globally. It shall be interesting to look at this as time goes on - will customers like water packaged in a non-transparent container? Is it really a better alternative, given that the process of making paper is very harmful? Will TetraPak and carton manufacturers expand recycling facilities so that they are widely available?

Long time no update!

Good news, packaging friends. I wanted to point out a number of new packaging initiatives out there that may soon put Packaging Probe out of commission. This, of course, is a good thing, meaning that our goal of packaging reduction has been attained. While I doubt that we'll ever reach zero packaging due to safety concerns, it looks like lots of positive strides are being made.

Greener Package launched earlier this year with tons of resources on sustainable packaging, including up to date news, discussion forums, an all sorts of research. Amazing work. They are also building up a sustainable packaging database that will share the best designs. I also heard through the grapevine that Wal-Mart is preparing to use some interesting packaging software that ensure the optimization of packaging usage.


I had bookmarked this shoebox earlier on in the year to show that you can have a non-cube shaped shoebox that protects and is stackable. Great design from Newton Running!

On another note, the recyclables market is starting to see an uptick again. With the recession, there were stories of recyclables heading to China, only to be turned back again. It only drives home the necessity of packaging reduction rather than recycling!

Until next time,

HKM

Biodegradability in landfills

We received a great question from Jenny that asked us, "Is there an environmentally friendly plastic bag that will biodegrade in the landfill?"

This is a tough question to answer because plastic bags and biodegradable bags have their pluses and minuses. One fact to point out is that things do not biodegrade in landfills (if they do, there are very few of these that have anaerobic processes!)
They are meant to entomb garbage such that they don't leak into the environment. This is tough for an earth that is naturally predisposed to not creating waste. However, if you are lucky enough to have a backyard with a composter, it is great to stick the bags into there - just make sure to follow the directions on the bag!

Plastic bags are great in the sense that they are portable and light and really only make up 1% of landfill - but boy are they harmful! In Delhi, they have been known to clog up waste drains (as a result they are bringing out legislation to fine/jail people who still use them in their shops!), and many sea animals die every year from ingesting plastic bags. It also takes thousands and thousands of years for them to degrade (even scientists aren't even sure if that's the case!) So in that sense, biodegradable bags are less harmful since they will eventually degrade.

I hope that sheds some light on plastic bags for you all.

A shorter, fatter box...

Kellogg's is trying out a shorter, stouter box that holds that same amount of food, but saves on materials and could fit into pantries better. Check it out: Kellogg boxes on AdAge

Environmental information in purchasing decisions

As of late, I have been impressed with the initiatives of two stores operating in Canada - great merchandising efforts in an effort to facilitate environmentally conscious consumer decision making.



First, is RONA. They have a line of private label "green" friendly products and in-store they have information about the life cycle of each of these products. Pretty neat! More information here. I hope that they put together a more detailed corporate social responsibility report too, because they have a lot of initiatives that I would like to know more about.



Today I went to Ikea for the first time in ages and noticed that in the product details they have started including basic environmental information about the product. For example, for cotton placemats they added that it is a renewable resource (unfortunately nothing about heavy pesticide usage). For LED lights, they added the fact that it uses 70% less energy than incandescent lights. I mean, it's not thorough but certainly, the approach to educate is moving in the right direction. And I think it all makes sense in Ikea's philosophy of being extremely efficient in all that they do.

So, all that to say, I'm glad to see movement in the marketplace.