When green products arrive overpackaged in plastic
by greenlagirl

Part of me hearts web shopping. Sometimes, it's super eco, what with e-cards, downloadable music, and the like. That said, part of me hates web shopping. The reason: Most of the stuff I get arrives with lots and lots of plastic packaging.

Take, for example, the Get Green Starter Kit I got last week. Along with my Kit, I got two brand new plastic-padded Fed-Ex pouches, a huge box, and a whole bunch of bubble wrap.

That's A LOT of plastic packaging to deliver a green product -- especially one that's intended to reduce packaging!. Get Green Starter Kit's main difference from most of the green cleaning products out there: Instead of pre-made cleaners, the kit gives you the ingredients for making your own cleaners. The main idea's that you'll end up buying less stuff and saving money. The other idea is that one will continue to reuse the bottles to make more DIY cleaners -- thus reducing packaging.

I'll have to reuse this stuff A LOT to make up for all the packaging they sent me. That said, maybe I shouldn't stress so much. According to the description, "The Get Clean Starter Kit helps eliminate more than 100 pounds of packaging waste from landfills and also eliminates 248 pounds of greenhouse gases from the air — that's the environmental equivalent to planting 10 trees." In the end, I guess I'll come out ahead. Maybe 98 lbs ahead, since the packaging I got has to weight at least a couple lbs --

Excess packaging's really starting to piss enviros off. Beth at Fake Plastic Fish has actually started sending her packaging back! She sent back the styrofoam peanuts she got from organic cheddar from Loleta Cheese Factory -- and actually got a nice lil note in return, as well as a refund for her shipping costs.

I'm not sure I have the time and energy to write individual notes, repackage boxes, and tote everything to the post office to send back; that'd be a part time job in itself. (I get a lot of samples from companies who want me to review stuff). But what I noticed 'bout what Beth does is that when she made the order, she'd specifically requested no excess packaging.

Now that, I can definitely do. Most web orders have a "comments" or "special requests" or "notes" section -- so in the future, I'll use that to ask for reduced packaging --

A couple tips for reducing packaging in your life: bpt of Money Changes Things shows you how to reuse paper bags for microwave popcorn, instead of buying the overpackaged one-use stuff (which, BTW, has now been linked to lung disease). The Mom at Mom's in the Kitchen shuns instant oatmeal for being overpackaged, overpriced, and overprocessed, and gives you a nice recipe for making old fashioned oatmeal.

I haven't tried out the Get Green Starter Kit yet, so I'll report back once I do -- and I'll try to reuse the bubble wrap for the holiday gifts I still need to mail out --

Submitted by greenlagirl (view blog) on Mon, 12/17/2007 - 1:44pm

Comments

 

I get so frustrated when

I get so frustrated when stuff that absolutely will not break comes in a metric ton of styro peanuts. I will take advantage of the notes/comments section for sure! Thanks.

Your Pop Culture Librarian also writes almost daily at I, Asshole.

Submitted by Super Jive on Mon, 12/17/2007 - 21:06
 

SO TRUE!

I know, it kills me!!!! Fortunately my way-hippier-than-me friends told me that you can take all that stuff to the nearest UPS store and they'll take it off your hands and reuse it. It's only good for one reusing, but still, better than nothing. And you never know, they may ship it to someone who will take it to their UPS store and reuse it, and so on..... I wish. but it's better than nothing.
___________
Alyssa Royse
JUST CAUSE
make some good news!
www.JustCauseIt.com

Submitted by alyssaroyse on Mon, 12/17/2007 - 21:35
 

I couldn't believe how much

I couldn't believe how much packaging was around the Miyim organic monkey someone got for our son. It weighed as much as the toy itself, and it was insanely difficult to flatten for recycling - the part that was recyclable, anyway. Plenty of it wasn't.
__

Flooded Lizard Kingdom
All Access Blogging
Heroine Content

Submitted by Skye on Tue, 12/18/2007 - 10:54
 

Crate and Barrel's packaging

I received some sweaters in the mail from JCrew and I was shocked at all of the plastic, so when I received a gift from a friend via Crate and Barrel, needles to say, I cringed at the thought of opening it. But, I was pleasantly bowled over when the Crate and Barrel gifts were wrapped in PAPER instead of plastic bubble wrap or popcorn!! It was awesome - so if anyone is thinking about ordering stuff, Crate and Barrel is the best eco choice I've seen yet!

Helene
http://themodernwomansdivorceguide.com/blog

Submitted by moddivorce on Tue, 12/18/2007 - 11:29
 

For Kicks and Giggles

ps. Thought you might like this Eco post:

http://www.themodernwomansdivorceguide.com/blog/2007/12/just-for-kicks-a...

Submitted by moddivorce on Tue, 12/18/2007 - 11:30
 

The waste is insane

I ordered a small item from Banana Republic as a gift, and requested gift wrap. Imagine my surprise when a huge box arrived at my door. There was an equally large decorative inner box made of material so heavy I could have jumped up and down on it without even denting it! Lesson learned on requesting gift wrap.

I used to work for a company who claimed to have an environmental focus, but mailed out literature to individual employees' homes (thousands of them), when it could have been bulk mailed to the offices and distributed.

J of the Ladies Lounge
www.weekendwarriorsguide.com

Submitted by jliedtke on Tue, 12/18/2007 - 19:45
 

Packing Waste

At www.OliveBarn.com we try to minimize packaging while making sure the package arrives safely. We use cornstarch bio-degradable peanuts and recycled paper for cushioning. We try to minimize the use of bubblewrap whenever possible.

Submitted by jd0557 on Mon, 12/24/2007 - 10:50
 

Crate and Barrel

MoneyChangesThings
www.moneychangesthings.blogspot.com
My friend bought cool bamboo plates and cutlery on sale at Crate and Barrel.
http://moneychangesthings.blogspot.com/2007/12/bamboo-attractive-sustain...
She called them and asked if they would like all the packaging back to reuse it, and they ACTUALLY sent her a UPS tag to pick it up. Frankly it seems like more of a customer service issue rather than they'll really reuse it, but we were all pretty amazed.
I collect lots of cardboard boxes from all these e-merchandise. Every now and then i post on freecycle that I have bubble paper and boxes for anyone who needs, and I always get someone who is moving or whatever. Personally I reuse all my friends' styrofoam peanuts for my at-home business. People know to just leave me boxes and bags on my porch! If I get to much, I drop it at UPS or Pack n Post myself.

Submitted by bpteutsch on Wed, 01/09/2008 - 13:57
 

If we can't reuse, we avoid plastic bubble
wrap.

It seems needless to say, coming from our product line, but it isn't. So many "green" companies totally miss the mark when it comes to the packaging. If you receive your Papergeist book in a bubble mailer, it's because it's going around again in it's second use. Otherwise, it will arrive in an all-paper padded post consumer mailer.

Susan
Papergeist

Submitted by Papergeist on Fri, 01/11/2008 - 08:18