Excited for your upcoming package? Well, you should be but the heavy and difficult packaging it comes in, doesn’t that cut down your excitement? And it is not just about that, the difficulties we face because of packaging are way beyond that. Packaging consists of wrapping an item with multiple layers of plastic that has to go through several processes of recycling and yet we aren’t completely successful. Only 20% of the plastic gets recycled and what about the rest? It keeps piling up and increasing the burden of environmental issues.
One third of the packaging is completely of no use and just increases the costing. Environmentalists want the packaging to be as minimal as possible whereas manufactures want the safety of their products, both are right from their point of views but still there is a chance of reducing the plastic use and still keep your product safe.
If you look at packaging world wide, you will see that in some places peeled oranges are sold in plastic cups, does that make sense? To make it worse bananas peeled off and then covered in plastic wrap. This is definitely enraging. Apart from the food packaging, the packaging for the products we order online is no less. We often receive goods that cannot be damaged like clothing wrapped in several layers of plastic or like a person who received 3 socks filled with 7ft of air pouches. The list of complaining about excess packaging is never ending.
Most of the plastic packaging ends up harming the environment. 8 million tons of plastic is dumped in ocean every year. Loose plastic on roads is resulting in choking of animals. Plastic is a clear threat to wildlife, nature and humans.
How can we reduce packaging?
All the brands need to understand the impact of the large quantities of plastic they are using. They need to take care that the cardboard and plastic they are using for the product is appropriate according to its size so the next time we don’t receive a micro SD card in a huge cardboard box and in a huge pile of plastic that will take months to get recycled.
Food packaging companies should speed up their transportation process instead of wrapping up the consumable goods in layers so plastic which is harmful for the consumer as well as the environment.
Paper and cloth also come in great use while packaging and both the products are easily recyclable so their use should be encouraged rather than plastic.
Innovative packaging design avoiding unnecessary outer packaging
After so much harm from plastic it is important to have legal interference. Laws should be passed to ban use of plastic in specific fields. France has taken the steps to ban plates, cups, and cotton buds this year and more will be banned by next year to achieve their goal of phasing out all single-use plastics by 2040.
All this harm happening cannot be entirely blamed on the companies, somewhere we are responsible too. We should avoid plastic as much as we can. Utilize products that have least involvement of plastic. Carry your own cloth bags. Avoid takeaways in plastic boxes instead take your own utensils and let them give you the food in it. When you report to companies about the excess packaging they are using they will realize their mistake and take care of it next time. Change starts with you.
Avoid using plastic as much as possible and go for recyclable products. It is in our hands whether we want to live in a healthy world or not.
Steps Taken to Reduce Plastic and Packaging Waste -
Luckily, we have graduates from Pratt Institute, New York have helped in designing edible spoons, cups, straws and much more. According to Nat Geo using edible cutlery is a tasty alternative to plastic. If this is applied in every restaurant then we will see a drastic reduce in plastic waste.
Zero Waste Eco Store in Kharkhana, Secunderabad
Another great step was the introduction of Zero – Waste Stores. These stores sell food without packaging which helps in the reduction of plastic waste. This concept was started In Europe and has been spreading a lot recently. Apna Secunderabad has its very own store named Zero Waste Eco-Store. https://www.facebook.com/zerowasteecostore/ You will find everything you need for your daily needs in the store. From food products to sanitation, they have it all. Such stores should be promoted more and customers need to be encouraged to shop from such stores.
Zero Waste Eco Store in Kharkhana, Secunderabad
Many brands like IKEA have sustainable development as part of their goals and are constantly contributing for a better environment. All companies should devote a little bit of focus on the environment and work towards its betterment.