4 ms·

Gee, where is all this waste coming from? eats take out 3 times a day. I just have no idea how we can get better at recycling. buys a new smartphone every 2 yea

by jbob2000 8y ago

Gee, where is all this waste coming from? eats take out 3 times a day. I just have no idea how we can get better at recycling. buys a new smartphone every 2 years. Like why do we have to separate plastic and paper? drinks coffee from a disposable cup twice a day. I have no idea how Washington will meet 80% recycling targets! stocks house with consumer packaged goods. The plastic straw ban was a good start, but I'd like to see some more action on this front. My partner bought a box of crackers the other day and we opened it up to find half the cardboard box was empty and it was just a small plastic bag which itself was half empty. The packaging almost weighed more than the product itself! And I bought a microSD card the other day with a plastic clam shell package that was 15x the size of the product it was holding. Ridiculous. Consumerism has gone too far. Mandate that packaging can't weigh more than the product it holds and you'd eliminate tons of wasteful packaging. Mandate that all food must be sold in bulk quantities; no more single scoop yogurt cups or snack bags with like 3 gummies in them.

EADGBE 8y ago
There's a warning on the box that says contents may settle during shipment. As far as having a box too large; well that's just settling for the box maker's specs. (Almost) No one makes their own boxes. I noticed Amazon starting shipping in frustration-free packaging. I'm quite a fan of that. Assuming it helps (if you compost the cardboard maybe?).
- jbob2000 8y ago
  I wasn't complaining about the lack of product, which is what the warning on the box is for (so people don't call up and say "hey you gave me a half filled bag!"). My complaint is that there is clearly an inefficiency in packaging which is leading to this waste. And again, my complaint with clam shells isn't that they are frustrating; it's that the product I purchased was far smaller than its packaging, again a huge packaging inefficiency which leads to waste. I'm not asking companies to make their own boxes or reduce frustration. I'm asking consumers to stop buying shit that comes in boxes and plastic. I didn't need those crackers, we could have happily snacked on homemade bread. Why couldn't the SD card come in a small dime bag in an envelope?
  - donarb 8y ago
    > Why couldn't the SD card come in a small dime bag in an envelope? Making the packaging bigger makes it difficult for someone to steal it. If you were to put the card in a small envelope, you would have to store the card in a locked cabinet and call for an employee to unlock and hand it to you. Multiply that by hundreds/thousands of small products and employee costs would outstrip your savings for a cheaper SD card.
    - jbob2000 8y ago
      Holy crap, y'all are still missing my point! Having an employee open a locked cabinet would be AMAZING if it reduces packaging. I don't give a shit about costs, why do you think I care about cost savings? I care about reducing waste to the landfill. If that means someone has to unlock a cabinet for me, so be it.
      - EADGBE 8y ago
        The frustration-free packaging seems like the way to go. I don't care what box my stuff comes in. It's a shame it takes a behemoth like Amazon to get manufacturers to do this, instead of doing it on their own.
        ryanmercer 8y ago
        >It's a shame it takes a behemoth like Amazon to get manufacturers to do this, instead of doing it on their own. The shame is, in my experience, Amazon's frustration free packaging just means "multiple cardboard boxes and lots of paper instead of plastic bubbles" even for cables.
        EADGBE 8y ago
        I'm not sure we're talking about the same thing.
notabee 8y ago
It's almost like capitalism is extraordinarily inefficient at using resources due to perverse incentives caused by only taking local rewards and consequences into account instead of the entire closed planet system, and will simply run to the most lenient local conditions to inefficiently exploit those resources cheaply for profit rather than taking on the expense of becoming more efficient. Imagine that.

EADGBE 8y ago

There's a warning on the box that says contents may settle during shipment. As far as having a box too large; well that's just settling for the box maker's specs. (Almost) No one makes their own boxes. I noticed Amazon starting shipping in frustration-free packaging. I'm quite a fan of that. Assuming it helps (if you compost the cardboard maybe?).

jbob2000 8y ago
I wasn't complaining about the lack of product, which is what the warning on the box is for (so people don't call up and say "hey you gave me a half filled bag!"). My complaint is that there is clearly an inefficiency in packaging which is leading to this waste. And again, my complaint with clam shells isn't that they are frustrating; it's that the product I purchased was far smaller than its packaging, again a huge packaging inefficiency which leads to waste. I'm not asking companies to make their own boxes or reduce frustration. I'm asking consumers to stop buying shit that comes in boxes and plastic. I didn't need those crackers, we could have happily snacked on homemade bread. Why couldn't the SD card come in a small dime bag in an envelope?
- donarb 8y ago
  > Why couldn't the SD card come in a small dime bag in an envelope? Making the packaging bigger makes it difficult for someone to steal it. If you were to put the card in a small envelope, you would have to store the card in a locked cabinet and call for an employee to unlock and hand it to you. Multiply that by hundreds/thousands of small products and employee costs would outstrip your savings for a cheaper SD card.
  - jbob2000 8y ago
    Holy crap, y'all are still missing my point! Having an employee open a locked cabinet would be AMAZING if it reduces packaging. I don't give a shit about costs, why do you think I care about cost savings? I care about reducing waste to the landfill. If that means someone has to unlock a cabinet for me, so be it.
    - EADGBE 8y ago
      The frustration-free packaging seems like the way to go. I don't care what box my stuff comes in. It's a shame it takes a behemoth like Amazon to get manufacturers to do this, instead of doing it on their own.
      - ryanmercer 8y ago
        >It's a shame it takes a behemoth like Amazon to get manufacturers to do this, instead of doing it on their own. The shame is, in my experience, Amazon's frustration free packaging just means "multiple cardboard boxes and lots of paper instead of plastic bubbles" even for cables.
        EADGBE 8y ago
        I'm not sure we're talking about the same thing.

notabee 8y ago

It's almost like capitalism is extraordinarily inefficient at using resources due to perverse incentives caused by only taking local rewards and consequences into account instead of the entire closed planet system, and will simply run to the most lenient local conditions to inefficiently exploit those resources cheaply for profit rather than taking on the expense of becoming more efficient. Imagine that.