Packaging

Packaging is a nearly inescapable part of modern life.  Unless an item originates from local materials and is only transported in reusable containers, the item or its components have been packaged at some point.  Even if you don’t see the packaging, it may be lurking just out of sight.  Baked goods may have been made onsite or transported and stored in reusable containers, or they may have been individually packaged for transport or storage before being unpacked for sale. Either way, the ingredients are likely to have been packaged before use.  Some packaging is reused, and some is recycled, but large amounts of packaging are discarded in the trash or into the environment. 

I buy a breakfast cereal that comes in a bag rather than a bag inside of a paperboard box.  According to the label on the bag, this saves 942 tons of paperboard per year, along with the resource costs of producing the boxes and recycling/disposal.  Is there hidden packaging associated with transporting the bags of cereal?  Yes, but perhaps not as much as if each bag was sold in a paperboard box.  And buying the cereal in the “EcoPac” lets the manufacturer know I care about reducing packaging.  Some countries have requirements that items such as electronics must be sold in recyclable packaging, but many don’t – yet.   I try to watch for opportunities to buy items that apparently have less packaging.  When possible, if I cannot avoid packaging, I try to buy items in recyclable packaging that meets my local recycling processor’s requirements for acceptance. 
A few ideas:

• Check out the bulk bins at your grocery store and take your own container/bag if it’s allowed.  Or reuse the bag from the last trip.
• Look for ways to reuse the packaging you bring home.
• Choose items in packaging that can be recycled in your local recycling processing facility.
• Look at different brands of the item and consider the packaging in addition to all the other features of the item. 
• Don’t litter.