By Michael Smith (Veshengro)
The man behind a lot of the packaging innovations is their engineering manager Eric Abraham. It is he who has pushed for materials that are 100% recyclable and sourced from Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified materials. Now, product hang-tags feature 100% post-consumer recycled content and their fasteners are made from recycled polypropylene instead of virgin plastic.
The company also now ships bicycles in boxes of four instead of individually, reducing associated waste. Also, bicycle tire tubes that used to be sold in a paperboard box are now packaged in a new tube holder designed by Abraham, which uses a plant-based film that reduces materials by 98% and is compostable.
I have been advocating the use of the non-clamshell packaging now for years for all manner of things but too often industry keeps telling us that it can't be done for this reason or that, often citing hygiene, security, and such. REI shows it can be done and is one of the few that seem to be doing it.
All too often we even see so-called green products housed in the clamshell packaging for which one, more often than not, require a can opener or saw in order to open it.
The main reason for the clamshell packaging – the larger the better – is the fact that when hung on the display boards the goods stand out because of the size and type of the packaging.
When it is said that the plant-based film is compostable it must be remembered that, in 99% of cases, this means compostable in commercial composters and not your home composting bin. While it will work in the home composters it will take several years to compost.
Cardboard packaging was all that was available and used not so many decades ago and the film windows and such were made from cellophane which was made from cellulose and both cardboard and cellophane was fully biodegradable.
We have not advanced at all since those days. In fact, we have gone backwards while going forward.
Now, finally, the issue is being tackled and many ideas for packaging are coming to the fore. I am still waiting on a proper way of designing packaging for reuse, with instructions for reuse on them. Some designers have worked on it but... Time we became serious about it.
© 2011
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