Why don't the government punish packaging producers instead of us that have to dispose of it?

Question

If supermarkets had butchery/greengrocery departments, we could choose our produce have it bagged and take it away without the need for plastic trays.

Boxes could be smaller than they are and still contain the same amount.

Some biscuits like yo-yo/viscount types are foil wrapped, placed on a tray and then wrapped again.

I don't buy these products anymore, and I do recycle whatever I can - clothes included. My local corner (greengrocery) shop closed last year - because of fuel costs incurred to keep fresh stuff instock. I would love to see corner shops make a comeback!

Answer 1

The supermarkets say it is up to consumers and the consumers say it is up to supermarkets. I suspect the government doesn't want to tread on either sides' toes for business and electoral reasons, but are being forced to react to excessive landfill/waste problems. If enough people started leaving easily removable excessive packaging at the till (such as cardboard outer trays) for supermarkets to deal they might soon stop doing it.
Alternatively you could go to the butchers and the grocers and but in bags, but it is more expensive and less convenient, but perhaps that's only because not enough people used them.
I think the WI did some protesting about this (and other supermarket issues) recently.

Answer 2

The simple answer would be: It's because of economics -- Is putting groceries in plastic trays cheaper than hiring someone to wrap the groceries? Is risking a possibly long line (and hence ward off potential buyers) worth it? Will the consumer not demand more "quality" (i.e. cleaner) work from the bagger (and thereby potentially increasing cost) now that you actually see it being bagged? Are you, as consumer, willing to shoulder any potential costs? Now that there will be a visual difference in the resulting product, will it encourage or discourage people from buying? etc. etc.

Think of it this way: obviously, the supermarket is earning more from what they are doing - otherwise, why not do the opposite if they can earn more from the alternative?

Another point of view would be: environmental awareness is everybody's responsibility. I have to agree with the other commenters: if you think it would be irresponsible for a producer to double-wrap something, then don't patronize the producer. That's a basic economic rule. The only reason these practices are rampant is simply because the consumers tolerate them (or are not environmentally aware). People should be encouraged to exercise their rights in a free market economy.

Just remember: democracy and the free market works if, and only if, the people have the capability (e.g. are educated enough) to make the "right" choices (i.e. the choices that will get their desired result).

Answer 3

Packaging is getting way out of control. I read an article recently in which a packager convinced a supplier in England that coconuts needed to be shrink-wrapped. Their claim was that it was "US" the consumers who wanted it.

In free-market societies, the government is far too beholden to businesses to do anything about it. Its up to us, the end users, to make the smarter choices and demand less packaging. You may have to find a store where you are able to bag the items yourself.

From a fiscal point of view, if everyone generated less trash, we could theoretically lower the cost not only of the items involved (which is one way in which buying in bulk can save one money), but potentially the monthly bill of disposing that small amount of trash.

Kansas City, MO, recently changed its billing practices. They allow its residents to put as much into the recycling bins as they can. At the same time, they are allowed only so many bags of "trash", and must purchase tags to put additional bags at the curb. In this manner, they are forcing those who are the worst offenders to pay the bulk of the landfill cost.

Another city in the K.C. area delivered trash bins to each of its residents...large, wheeled trash bins that can withstand the weather, and can't be gotten into by roaming or wild animals. These help with the trash situation by preventing the need to "bag up" the packaging you are throwing away.

Answer 4

When you punish producers, you ARE punishing consumers. We are trained to forget that producers are consumers, too, and take for granted how living standards have been improved by the diverse food choices made possible by modern packaging, shipping and agriculture in general.
If you don't like a product's packaging, don't buy it... but we have no right to tell others what they can or cannot purchase. Individuals find creative ways of reusing or recycling boxes and bags, without any need for government coercion. We're always expected to ask, "Why doesn't the government (fill in the blank)?" It's always supposed to be the government that solves all our problems --with OUR money-- so we don't have to act like adults and accept a little responsibility for ourselves and our choices.
Since those who bemoan packaging are clearly engineering geniuses, why aren't their superior designs flooding the market?

Answer 5

Devilishblueyes, I think you gave a very thorough and interesting answer. However, there was one point I would like to question - that cleaning glass bottles for reuse is more energy intensive than creating a new aluminium can.

In 1996 two academics followed the creation of a cola can. Bauxite is mined in Australia and trucked to a chemical reduction mill where a half hour process purifies each ton of bauxite into half a ton of aluminium oxide. It is then loaded onto a giant ore carrier and sent to Sweden or Norway, where hydroelectric dams provide cheap electricity. A smelter then takes 2 and a half hours to turn each half ton of aluminium oxide into a quarter ton of aluminium metal, rolled into 10m ingots. These are then shipped to Germany. Each ingot is heated to nearly 900 degrees farenheit and rolled down to a thickness 1/8 in. These are then transported to a warehouse, and then to a cold rolling mill, possibly in another country, where they are rolled to the thickness of a can. This is then sent to England, where sheets are formed into cans, and go through various treatments to prepare them for holding a beverage. They are then shipped to a bottler, washed and cleaned again, and filled with cola. They are then inserted into card packaging that may have originated anywhere from Sweden to Canada.

Before the new recycling measures, people in the uk discarded 84% of all soft drink cans, meaning a massive 88%, after factoring production losses, of Aluminium is wasted, and more Bauxite must be mined. Furthermore, the study goes on to state that the energy intensity of creating aluminium from virgin ore is 20 timees that of recycling it.

Looking at transportation, materials intensity and production I assume (correct me if I am wrong) that reuse should be less energy intensive than this global process.

Answer 6

Feel free to go back to shopping at your local corner-shop - they'll bag it all fresh for you there, minimal packaging. This is the down-side of supermarkets - unattended shelving requires more packaging, to make the product last longer and stand up to unintentional damage.

There are some that are excessive, and the legislation is slowly clamping down. However, if you feel strongly enough about it, vote with your shopping - choose the products that use less packaging!

Answer 7

You have a good point. However, I think we're a lazy bunch of buggerz in this country... we've got the highest wastage rate per household in Europe. It is shameful.

Most of the continent has compulsory recycling laws, and although it got irritating having to separate rubbish when I lived in Switzerland and Belgium, it worked. It's hardly a big deal to sort waste into types and stick it in a different coloured box.

Are we so arrogant that we think Britain is above having to follow basic laws that protect the environment? There's no excuse for that imperialistic bull.

Answer 8

Everybody blames the packagers who package it without looking at why the packaging is there. Yes there are times when things are over-packaged. But for most things they are packaged that way for a reason.

The reason your biscuits are placed in foil is because foil provides a solid non-porous barrier so that your biscuits won't go bad on you and have a bad taste.

Most of your products get handled over 40 times by the time they reach you. So the package has to be durable or otherwise your product will get damaged or broken.

The package also has to sell the item too. If you can't sell, you can't stay in business very long. A package only has one-half second to get your attention. Research has shown that if it doesn't get your attention in that first half-second you probably won't buy it.

At the same time, the packaging has to help keep the part from getting stolen, thus the packages that are hard to open like CD cases. The size, security devices, and making it hard to open makes it harder to steal. Also, another reason they are big is to retrofit stores that have the old record album displays. The same goes with DVD's. That is why their package is roughly half the size of a VHS cassette.

There have been many advances in packaging in the last decade or two.

Shoe boxes for instance don't have to be shipped as a box in a box. Due to the boxes being made out of a small corrugated material.

Cat food and tuna is now often sold in plastic pouches instead of metal cans.

Many egg cartons now are made out of recycled paper instead of foam.

Some plastic containers are now being made out of corn based plastic so they are made out of a renewable resource instead of non-renewable oil.

There are also law restrictions that hamper packaging also. Recycled packaging cannot come into direct contact with food. The reason for this is incase any harmful chemicals happen to be in the recycled packaging. You wouldn't want those chemicals to get your family sick. What can be done though is a non-recycled portion can be used in direct contact with the food and the outer layers can be recycled so that the food is protected from any harmful chemicals, yet recycled products can be used to help the environment.

Also, packaging has to be made so that it protects children when in regards to pharmaceuticals. You wouldn't want your children opening your medicine bottle and dying due to them being able to open it and ingest it. At the same time it has to be halfway easy for senior citizens to open it.

For computers, packagers have to protect the computer against vibration, drops and electrostatic discharge. All of which could render your computer useless. Some packagers have gotten innovative for laptop packaging an now use an inflatable plastic bag that cushions and protects the computer. Others use molded paper pulp pieces that have been recycled and can be recycled again.

There is a lot of science and study that goes into your packaging anymore. If you look at the shelf life and ease of opening of your food compared to what it once was. Things have changed a lot. Like the easy open and resealable lids for Chips Ahoy Cookies. Or the resealable bags for cereal and cheese to make them last longer. Or how about the bags that stand up on their own like for cookies. Before those would have had to been put in a bag then put in a box. Now they only have to be put in a bag.

Also, most all of your plastic containers have biodegrable sections input into the plastic molecules so that the plastic containers will biodegrade for those litterers that throw their plastic bottles on the roadsides.

Yes, it looks like the boxes could be made smaller. But those boxes say for cereal have to accomodate the product before it has been shaken down due to the shipping process. That is why there is the extra room. For other products such as computers, that extra room is to allow the box to crush and take the impact so your computer doesn't take the impact and get broken.

I'm a packaging engineer. It's what I do for a living. Environmental impact is one of the major things we look at. And we are doing a much better job than we did 20 years ago. The problem is that consumers want more convenient and individual serving packaging. The more you individualize packaging and the more you make it convenient. The more of a tendency there is to have to add more packaging. But even with those obstacles, the packaging industry is getting more and more creative about how to do more with less.

Also, the food industry uses a lot of plastic returnable containers that can be used over and over for transport of their food such as milk and produce. There are not only packaging advance you see at the store but also ones you don't see behind the scenes.

And the reason for going from glass to plastic is because it is lighter and more energy efficient to produce plastic. It takes more heat to melt glass and it takes more fuel to transport it. That's the reason why they did away with the old glass cola bottles. More energy and cost was used cleaning them and transporting them than to actually make an aluminum can or to make a plastic bottle. And both the plastic and aluminum can be recycled.

Lastly, for some of the packaging that cannot be recycled. To keep it from going to landfills it is sometimes burned at city facilities to generate electricity and heat for cities. And even at the landfills, methane gas is collected from the landfills and used to provide more energy even from the waste that is buried.

The stores do more than you think. All of the corrugated boxes they use to transport your product from the distribution facilities to your store are either reused or crushed then baled and recycled into new corrugated boxes.

It is the consumer who really needs to not be so lazy and get up off their duff and take their recyclable good to the recycler. And governments and stores who need to provide good recycling programs that are easily accessible. Stores would provide more recycling bins but when they last tried that people used them more as trash containers instead of recycling bins mixing things there were not supposed to.

Answer 9

Unfortunately, it's all about the packaging. . . Packaging sells the product, If you don't agree with the packaging then make your stand and do not buy. . .

Answer 10

You're right, it's just another schematic way of sciving money out of our hard working pockets. Whenever they have a problem, they make it harder for us. They need to learn how to resolve problems without having to come to taking our money.