Packaging Design annoyances

Just a few thoughts:

• Laminating paper makes it hard (and by hard I mean impossible, because who is going to have the time to peel laminate from chipboard) to recycle.
• Why would a non-recyclable plastic or plastic without a recyclable content indicator be used when recyclable content plastic is no more expensive?
• Did you really choose foamcore as part of your packaging plan?
• Have you considered the environmental implication of every single piece of packaging involved in your custom mold-injected plastic and polystyrene clamshell?

A few weeks ago a bought a candle at Target and was disappointed that the box the candle came in, though about 99% paper, had some kind of plastic – something like transparent tape – holding together the corners. The problem was that this was inside the layers of paper used to build the box, so it wasn’t on the surface and could not be easily removed.

This leaves the consumer with few options: do they recycle the paper & chipboard with the plastic in place, do they throw out the box? For me, it makes me wonder about the choices that were made in creating this box. Did Target even know this was involved in the production of the box? Did they spec it?

I feel constant disappointment with big business that make bad decisions in these respects. I feel like “being green” is commonplace enough that I would expect businesses like Target and others that are progressive with respect to other social issues to be progressive on the environmental front.

What also annoys me is that I thought I was buying a item packaged in a 100% paper carton. I’m not sure if this is a case of “fool me once, shame on you” or “fool me twice, shame on me”. Either way, it serves as a reminder that a little skepticism or cynicism may have prevented this experience.