Green design is a new subject area for me but already I'm hooked! I love the idea of cradle to cradle packaging products - who doesn't like to be able to get something extra with their purchase.
When it comes to recycling/reusing packaging there is still so much that can be done. My family of four fill an enormous green wheelie bin with packaging, not that I want all of that to be reusable in my home but why do we need it on the product we bought in the first place. We have become obsessed by the appearance of something. If customers had the choice of buying exactly the same product but one being in an overly printed box with an inner bag or alternatively the same product in just a recyclable bag that they could put the product into a reusable container when they got home I bet the majority would choose the over printed box - including me up until now. We need to be re-educated. This should be something that is discussed in schools from a young age and promoted in supermarkets etc so that we slowly get used to selecting brands with less packaging and packaging that is recyclable.
Manufacturers need to be encouraged by the government that eco-friendly packaging is the way to go as it vastly reduces the amount of resources used (oil, water, paper etc) and therefore our overall CO2 emissions, which is what we are all being encouraged to do isn't it? The two films we have watched on the subject of emissions and oil have been quite disturbing. Again, this information was new to me and I have to ask why? If it really is of such great concern why is it not something everyone is aware of - whether they choose to believe it or not?
The Japanese packaging we looked at is really quite beautiful. Why not package something with natural products so that it looks beautiful whilst storing it over a period of time?. Of course this would be a very expensive practise and would no doubt deplete the natural resources quickly, but I think it does demonstrate that goods can be packaged in less but still be transported and stored satisfactorily.
21 October
It was interesting to read into sustainability and 'green' ink, paper and printers. I hadn't realised that my printing at home was quite so environmentally friendly.
It was also good to discover what I should be looking out for when choosing a 'green' printer for my work so as not to have the wool pulled over my eyes.
I will certainly be looking to purchase recycled items more often and will be keeping my eyes open for organic non-tree papers too.
We have a huge mountain to climb but if everyone does their bit things can only get better rather than worse.
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