Packaging - the myths!

So many companies now make a massive issue about being "green" The bottles are eco friendly, the lids are recyclable, the contents will bio-degrade! Do we really believe it all?

Recently an article was published that told us we should look more at the materials that went into making the packaging than into whether the packaging could be recycled. "The attention the consumer and the media give to how a plastic product is disposed of is no doubt the bane of many a plastic manufacturer’s existence. Landfill has become a dirty word, and biodegradable and compostable the new favourites."

But what if your products used more non-renewable resources than your competitors. Shouldn't you be making a song and a dance about this? Did you know that bioplastics can never degrade and are essentially immortal?

And that brings me onto another thought? What about over packaging? For how many years have you opened your Christmas presents to find that you have a tiny box of items and three large black bin bags filled with surplus packaging which doubtless sold the item to you in the first place only for you to discover that actually you have been seriously cheated! My brother got a Tamagotchi one year for his birthday - the box was the size of a shoe box and the virtual pet about the size of a spider!

And then again what about other sorts of waste? Did you know that although we are constantly told about the packaging waste from food we actually average 22lb of this compared with 440lb of food waste!

The final myth that really annoys me is the paper versus plastic bags! There you are standing in a queue at the shops and you get to the check out only to discover that everyone around you has a total look of disapproval of their faces at the point where the cashier asks you if you want a bag and you said the dreaded word "yes" instead of producing your canvas "I want to go green" version out of your pocket!. But recently I discovered that paper bags take more water and energy to produce than plastic and since paper is heavier, it costs more to truck paper bags from the manufacturing facility to a warehouse and then to a store!

So maybe its time we all stop being spoon fed this rubbish and investigated the real packaging issues for ourselves.