Why aren't more people talking about this? (1 Viewer)

[Megatron]

Everything you're saying just backs up the fact that we can't expect manufacturers to "do the right thing". Big government needs to step in and protect us from ourselves.

Big government is no better when it comes to reducing waste.

 

[glvsav37]

Everything you're saying just backs up the fact that we can't expect manufacturers to "do the right thing". Big government needs to step in and protect us from ourselves.

please, stop with big gov't. Thats not the function of our gov't. The straw thing was not 'a thing' without grassroots efforts to change things locally and it spread from there.

There are soooo many degrees of 'do the right thing' that you cant just make a blanket statement like that. I work in the design and packaging industry, there are plenty of manufactures who use sustainable packaging, it is even part of their overall marketing and design strategy. Its out there, its just not 100% across the board. 

but if you want change, then patronize retailers that offer products with less packaging, buy from them. Send big manufacturers copies of your receipts with letters stating why you bought from places with minimal packaging. Start a facebook group where people can share (and not shame) locations that support sustainable packaging. stuff like that, get enough support and things may change, just slowly. 

ps I always get slammed b/c my sarcasm meeter is rarely in tune, but if that was intended to be sarcastic, then i apologize

 

[glvsav37]

This is part of my point though. Wouldn't using less packaging ultimately add to their bottom line?

not when a plastic tab and a few rubber bands will help showcase the product perfectly on the shelf and results in more sales then jamming the product in a box and hoping people see it. Shelf appeal is king in retail. 

you are talking fractions of pennies for some of this extra packaging when used in scale. 

 

[The General]

I’ve been there

 

[Shutout]

This is what I've been told by my anti-straw people

I spend a few weeks each year down on Sanibel island and this is where I saw the paper straws first.  They said it was about the turtles and I then saw a video where an oceanographer (?) Was documenting and she rescued a turtle that had a plastic straw stuckinsideits mouth or nostril. That video wetviral and the movement really took off.  The last time I was in Sanibel, they also have rules about not having lights that attract turtles and sealife to the beach at night when the turtles are hatched, etc.   

I thought it was amore localized thing but I suppose it's much broader.  

 

[ghostguy123]

I hear ya, but try something in a plain brown box and and see how your sales go. I go back to toys as an example, but kids especially work on sight and impulse. No kid is gonna throw a #### fit on his mother in the target toy isle b/c he saw a pain brown box and NEEEEEEEEEDSSSSS whats in it. 

Sounds like progress

 

[NutterButter]

I spend a few weeks each year down on Sanibel island and this is where I saw the paper straws first.  They said it was about the turtles and I then saw a video where an oceanographer (?) Was documenting and she rescued a turtle that had a plastic straw stuckinsideits mouth or nostril. That video wetviral and the movement really took off.  The last time I was in Sanibel, they also have rules about not having lights that attract turtles and sealife to the beach at night when the turtles are hatched, etc.   

I thought it was amore localized thing but I suppose it's much broader.  

is this something they're just discovering?   plastic straws and garbage in the ocean have been around forever.     i say let's just keep the garbage out of the ocean and then we can use all the straws our beverages require, but i guess that's asking too much.  

 

[ghostguy123]

= $$$ 

there are products out there but they cost more money. the more money you put into your disposables, the less you make. 

You are simply just not understanding what I am saying.

 

[ghostguy123]

This is part of my point though. Wouldn't using less packaging ultimately add to their bottom line?

If it did they would do it

 

[Shutout]

is this something they're just discovering?   plastic straws and garbage in the ocean have been around forever.     i say let's just keep the garbage out of the ocean and then we can use all the straws our beverages require, but i guess that's asking too much.  

You're right, it's not new.  I think what it is is now with video and social media on every phone in the world and a phone in every pocket, the exposure raised awareness.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

Or just shoot the junk out into space.  

Garbage barges are the future of space travel.

 

[rockaction]

Garbage barges are the future of space travel.

Hmmm...you'd have a good premise for a movie there.

That and the scarcity of water in space...

 

[belljr]

I don't use straws very often but paper straws are terrible

 

[Phil Elliott]

I would prefer they quit making the hard plastic casing that I get cut nearly every time I open it, destroying any resemblance of the original packaging.

 

[E-Z Glider]

please, stop with big gov't. Thats not the function of our gov't. The straw thing was not 'a thing' without grassroots efforts to change things locally and it spread from there.

There are soooo many degrees of 'do the right thing' that you cant just make a blanket statement like that. I work in the design and packaging industry, there are plenty of manufactures who use sustainable packaging, it is even part of their overall marketing and design strategy. Its out there, its just not 100% across the board. 

but if you want change, then patronize retailers that offer products with less packaging, buy from them. Send big manufacturers copies of your receipts with letters stating why you bought from places with minimal packaging. Start a facebook group where people can share (and not shame) locations that support sustainable packaging. stuff like that, get enough support and things may change, just slowly. 

ps I always get slammed b/c my sarcasm meeter is rarely in tune, but if that was intended to be sarcastic, then i apologize

The companies that use sustainable packaging are most likely selling overpriced products to hippies. No small group is going to change the way giant companies package their products. The only way it will change is if they are forced to change, and the only one that can force them to change is big govt. Sad, but true.

 

[Apple Jack]

Not to mention how much of a gigantic pain in the ### those clamshell packages are.  Half the time I damn near impale myself trying to open them. I think people will get away from those when they discover how awesome "frustration free" packaging from Amazon is.  I go out of my way to try and buy that way. Probably the only reason I still have 9 fingers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HubZInAs0-A

 

[Megatron]

I would prefer they quit making the hard plastic casing that I get cut nearly every time I open it, destroying any resemblance of the original packaging.

I cut the whole package with a utility knife. It's fun to take the mangled package back to the store if I have to return it.

 

[Tanner9919]

I think everything should be in arial font in lowercase letters with products housed in only 99.9% brown recycled cardboard.

Can I have my straws back, then? It's been a convenient excuse for stores to charge $2.60 for fountain soda still while not providing take-out situations. I want my free refills back.  

squeeze the stores..dont use ice when getting a fountain soda, the soda is already cccold! why do you need ice you're taking a 32oz cup and filling it with ice, and u end up with 8 oz actual soda.

this from a friend who owns a couple mcdonalds. he says they make big bucks off of this stupidity of customers.

 

[Sand]

is this something they're just discovering?   plastic straws and garbage in the ocean have been around forever.     i say let's just keep the garbage out of the ocean and then we can use all the straws our beverages require, but i guess that's asking too much.  

If you want to do this the source of the pollution is clear.  This study goes into some of the sources - they write that 90% of the pollution comes from river sources: the Yangtze, the Indus, Yellow River, Hai River, the Nile, the Ganges, Pearl River, Amur River, the Niger, and the Mekong.  All of those are either Asian or African and they mostly empty into the Pacific.  For the Atlantic there is great evidence that almost all of that comes from Chinese ship dumping.

Want to stop this?  Bottle up the sources in India and China.

 

[NutterButter]

If you want to do this the source of the pollution is clear.  This study goes into some of the sources - they write that 90% of the pollution comes from river sources: the Yangtze, the Indus, Yellow River, Hai River, the Nile, the Ganges, Pearl River, Amur River, the Niger, and the Mekong.  All of those are either Asian or African and they mostly empty into the Pacific.  For the Atlantic there is great evidence that almost all of that comes from Chinese ship dumping.

Want to stop this?  Bottle up the sources in India and China.

so its not our straws?  i'll let everyone know they can go back to using them since they're not getting into the noses of turtles.   

 

[Deepster]

I say this every December.

As long as I can remember, my tree hugging sister takes the plastic rings off a 6 pack and cuts them with a pair of scissors to protect the wildlife.  Meanwhile, every Christmas tree purchased during the holiday season gets wrapped up in a giant plastic fishnet.  You get home, cut it up one side and peel it off the tree, then right in the trash it goes.

Maybe we should figure out a better way to wrap up a Christmas tree?  Nope.  No one cares about that.  You can trap a whole bunch of turtles up in one of those.

 

[Gawain]

so i'll be the bad guy here, I'm a package designer—somewhat, I do a lot of bottles and food, not so much retail products, but I know the industry. 

its all about looking good on the shelf. Selling in retail is hard enough. Put your product in a plain brown box and try to sell it and its impossible. You need all the zip ties, glue dots, rubber bands and cardboard so that every toy in the line looks exactly the same inside the box, and every little accessory is highlighted. People don't read packaging, they won't see that there are 25 extra pieces buried in the box, you got to show them. You also can't print the product on the box all the time, bc people have become skeptical of products they cant see and taking it home only to find its 1/2 hhe size and made like crap. 

On top of that, you need to fit X into a big brown box to ship it to the retailer or customer, so things are designed to nest into each other during transport. And you are not transporting them on feather pillow, boxes get knocked around and if the product inside the packaging isn't secure, that He-Man figure comes out looking like he just went through a wresting match inside the box. 

Also retailers are giving less and less shelf space to products. Each inch of a shelf has to be profitable and giving space to floor models and displays are not always going to make them money. 

But I agree...a lot of it is wasteful and we need to change the way we shop. 

We threw out over 100K six-piece wall hardware boxes with an acetate window because the printer printed the back panel upside down. 

 

[glvsav37]

I say this every December.

As long as I can remember, my tree hugging sister takes the plastic rings off a 6 pack and cuts them with a pair of scissors to protect the wildlife.  Meanwhile, every Christmas tree purchased during the holiday season gets wrapped up in a giant plastic fishnet.  You get home, cut it up one side and peel it off the tree, then right in the trash it goes.

Maybe we should figure out a better way to wrap up a Christmas tree?  Nope.  No one cares about that.  You can trap a whole bunch of turtles up in one of those.

Can't help you with the Christmas tree issue, but now I can save your sister some time

 

[msommer]

If you want to do this the source of the pollution is clear.  This study goes into some of the sources - they write that 90% of the pollution comes from river sources: the Yangtze, the Indus, Yellow River, Hai River, the Nile, the Ganges, Pearl River, Amur River, the Niger, and the Mekong.  All of those are either Asian or African and they mostly empty into the Pacific.  For the Atlantic there is great evidence that almost all of that comes from Chinese ship dumping.

Want to stop this?  Bottle up the sources in India and China.

While I agree it is a great first step it is merely treating the symptoms. We also need to look for alternative materials

 

[ChainsawU]

a friend who owns a couple mcdonalds. he says they make big bucks off of this stupidity of customers

anything you can tell us I'd like to know more about this guy

 

[ChainsawU]

my tree hugging sister takes the plastic rings off a 6 pack and cuts them with a pair of scissors to protect the wildlife

anything you can tell us I'd like to know more about this chick

 

[ChainsawU]

I only drink it when it comes in plastic bottles, with pretty labels and marketing slogans

remember when bottled water was just Evian, and it was even kind of a "luxury" item too. has to be one of the most ingenious products ever developed in human history, albeit somewhat abhorrent

 

[Gally]

is this something they're just discovering?   plastic straws and garbage in the ocean have been around forever.     i say let's just keep the garbage out of the ocean and then we can use all the straws our beverages require, but i guess that's asking too much.  

I came to say something similar.  The straws are not the root cause.  They are a byproduct.  Solve the problem of how the "straws" (or other damaging trash) get into the oceans and it will be better than making everyone use crappy paper straws.  Solve the root cause and the end result improves. 

 

[TheIronSheik]

I came to say something similar.  The straws are not the root cause.  They are a byproduct.  Solve the problem of how the "straws" (or other damaging trash) get into the oceans and it will be better than making everyone use crappy paper straws.  Solve the root cause and the end result improves. 

Are you new to Earth?  We don't do things the logical way.  We take the most outlandish steps to try to fix an issue well down the line from the source, that way we can feel good on the inside without actually making any lasting impact or changes.

 

[Gally]

Are you new to Earth?  We don't do things the logical way.  We take the most outlandish steps to try to fix an issue well down the line from the source, that way we can feel good on the inside without actually making any lasting impact or changes.

I never said that solving the root cause was going to happen or that anybody would even make steps in that direction.  That would be too difficult and not get that feel good on the inside part you speak of......hahahaha 

 

[TheIronSheik]

I never said that solving the root cause was going to happen or that anybody would even make steps in that direction.  That would be too difficult and not get that feel good on the inside part you speak of......hahahaha 

I know.  I was agreeing with you, GB.