Plastics are everywhere and the dumps are growing

Lately there seems to be a movement of less is more in the packaging world. But what if packages become more reusable, instead of recyclable.

I love to make spinach pie and tend to buy a huge amount of spinach. In the past spinach was bagged in cellophane type packaging. Now spinach, and loose green in general, come in plastic boxes. So what to do with the one use plastic box?

Save or throw out?

This insinuates we buy the package, then throw it into the recycle bin. I’m amazed how fast that giant blue recycle bin gets filled up in two weeks. So wasteful of resources. Much of the “recyclables” end up in the landfills. Of late, I’ve been on some kind of mission to re-use any packaging that comes my way (at least once). An awareness of the amount of waste. My favorite saves are glass jars. I reuse them for saving seeds from my garden, as pencil holders, and storing assorted nails and bits. I have a lot of canning jars, but there’s something quite beautiful about glass. Especially when the jar has some style.

Design the package as part of the product

Welche’s jelly jars get this concept. I have old jelly jar glasses dating back to Howdie Doodie up to Pokeman. These are saved, reused and collected.

As a graphic designer I occasionally need to design a package. Not just the label, but the container. And not only the label and container, but the product, all needs to be one complete package.

I was taught by a graphic art teacher that packaging is easy. If you’re selling a can of peas, all you need is a picture of peas and the word “peas”. Except for the FDA requirements, and the abundance of trash, life could be really simple.

Use environmentally sound packing materials.

The first time I received packing peanuts claiming to be compostable I did a test. Sure enough, the peanuts “dissolved” with water. Not sure what the left-over residue was exactly, but I suspect it was some kind of plant material, maybe hemp or soy, hopefully the non-GMO kind.

Buy this logo symbol in the shop.