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Most of us might dismiss it as marketing speak but I do think most consumer good manufacturers should do the same especially for 1 time use packaging for electr

Most of us might dismiss it as marketing speak but I do think most consumer good manufacturers should do the same especially for 1 time use packaging for electronics

dmos62 8y ago
I agree, but the most wasteful packaging is for food. I throw out small amounts of electronics packaging a few times in a few years. I throw out heaps of food packaging every week.
- pixl97 8y ago
  Catch 22 situation. Many plastic wrapped objects last longer than paper/non wrapped objects leading to less waste at the store.
  - toomuchtodo 8y ago
    Bioplastics would be a suitable replacement, and if properly incentivized, local municipalities could collect it in a separated waste stream for conversion to energy (which would contribute towards offsetting the collection cost).
    - cannonedhamster 8y ago
      With China no longer accepting dirty recyclables from the US which are terribly hard to process we're probably on our way back to multi-stream recycling. Sad fact is that apparently the recycling truck is one of the worst causes of contamination when it compacts otherwise good recyclables. It's a bit more effort and a significantly higher rate of trash versus recycling, but in the end I think it would be worth it. Your idea has merit as well, though last I knew bioplastics still had some problems to solve in order to replace standard plastics, still worth pursuing.
    - dmos62 8y ago
      Of course the somewhat simple alternative is to slightly change the consumer model, where you bring multi-purpose and longlasting packaging, they put the stuff in it. Dispensery type shops. That already exists in a few shops around Europe at least. You bring your container and fill it up with grain, liquids, whatever. I can't really make up my mind on whether that would work for all food types. Maybe there's some heavily processed food that is dependent on being sealed until eating. I know potato chips bathe in nitrogen while sealed.
  - rasz 8y ago
    organic waste vs garbage with hundreds of years staying power
paulie_a 8y ago
Absolutely agreed. While I was incredibly impressed by the design and quality of Nvidia shield tv packaging, it went into the trash and recycle bin pretty much immediately. It gave me a "oh wow" feeling of excitement, but really could have been sent in brown box and not made a difference that lasted more than 20 seconds.
- baq 8y ago
  Years ago I unpacked a Kindle from a brown box and that gave me a wow feeling. Sustainable packaging doesn’t have to be a bad experience.
  - GuB-42 8y ago
    Incidentally, the Japanese are very good at it. For some reason, I found the packaging of everything better in Japan, even for the most simple items. Among the best are the ones made of paper and cardboard.
  - paulie_a 8y ago
    I didn't mean that sustainable packing would be a bad experience. Just that Nvidia went overboard, sure it was slick and impressive, then it was thrown out. The amount of money and time that went into it was a complete waste of money.
arthurfm 8y ago
I wish Apple would switch from using expanded polystyrene inserts [1] to cardboard for their non-Pro iMac packaging. So much of this polystyrene must end up in landfills rather than being recycled. The iMac Pro uses moulded cardboard inserts [2][3], so why can't the standard iMac? [1] https://www.apple.com/environment/pdf/products/desktops/21.5-inch_iMac_PER_June2017.pdf https://www.apple.com/environment/pdf/products/desktops/21.5... [2] https://www.amsys.co.uk/week-imac-pro/ https://www.amsys.co.uk/week-imac-pro/ [3] https://youtu.be/UxuhecF-3c0?t=153 https://youtu.be/UxuhecF-3c0?t=153

Most of us might dismiss it as marketing speak but I do think most consumer good manufacturers should do the same especially for 1 time use packaging for electronics

dmos62 8y ago

I agree, but the most wasteful packaging is for food. I throw out small amounts of electronics packaging a few times in a few years. I throw out heaps of food packaging every week.

pixl97 8y ago
Catch 22 situation. Many plastic wrapped objects last longer than paper/non wrapped objects leading to less waste at the store.
- toomuchtodo 8y ago
  Bioplastics would be a suitable replacement, and if properly incentivized, local municipalities could collect it in a separated waste stream for conversion to energy (which would contribute towards offsetting the collection cost).
  - cannonedhamster 8y ago
    With China no longer accepting dirty recyclables from the US which are terribly hard to process we're probably on our way back to multi-stream recycling. Sad fact is that apparently the recycling truck is one of the worst causes of contamination when it compacts otherwise good recyclables. It's a bit more effort and a significantly higher rate of trash versus recycling, but in the end I think it would be worth it. Your idea has merit as well, though last I knew bioplastics still had some problems to solve in order to replace standard plastics, still worth pursuing.
  - dmos62 8y ago
    Of course the somewhat simple alternative is to slightly change the consumer model, where you bring multi-purpose and longlasting packaging, they put the stuff in it. Dispensery type shops. That already exists in a few shops around Europe at least. You bring your container and fill it up with grain, liquids, whatever. I can't really make up my mind on whether that would work for all food types. Maybe there's some heavily processed food that is dependent on being sealed until eating. I know potato chips bathe in nitrogen while sealed.
- rasz 8y ago
  organic waste vs garbage with hundreds of years staying power

paulie_a 8y ago

Absolutely agreed. While I was incredibly impressed by the design and quality of Nvidia shield tv packaging, it went into the trash and recycle bin pretty much immediately. It gave me a "oh wow" feeling of excitement, but really could have been sent in brown box and not made a difference that lasted more than 20 seconds.

baq 8y ago
Years ago I unpacked a Kindle from a brown box and that gave me a wow feeling. Sustainable packaging doesn’t have to be a bad experience.
- GuB-42 8y ago
  Incidentally, the Japanese are very good at it. For some reason, I found the packaging of everything better in Japan, even for the most simple items. Among the best are the ones made of paper and cardboard.
- paulie_a 8y ago
  I didn't mean that sustainable packing would be a bad experience. Just that Nvidia went overboard, sure it was slick and impressive, then it was thrown out. The amount of money and time that went into it was a complete waste of money.

arthurfm 8y ago

I wish Apple would switch from using expanded polystyrene inserts [1] to cardboard for their non-Pro iMac packaging. So much of this polystyrene must end up in landfills rather than being recycled. The iMac Pro uses moulded cardboard inserts [2][3], so why can't the standard iMac? [1] https://www.apple.com/environment/pdf/products/desktops/21.5-inch_iMac_PER_June2017.pdf https://www.apple.com/environment/pdf/products/desktops/21.5... [2] https://www.amsys.co.uk/week-imac-pro/ https://www.amsys.co.uk/week-imac-pro/ [3] https://youtu.be/UxuhecF-3c0?t=153 https://youtu.be/UxuhecF-3c0?t=153