Product packaging waste

[Goatrope]

I picked up a bottle of Ibuprofen at W-mart and thought the bigger bottle must have more pills in it than the one it was replacing. To my surprise upon getting home and reading the label I discovered it contained the same quantity of 100 pills just like the old bottle!



When I opened it up and looked inside, the pills only take up about one-fourth the capacity of the bottle, leaving mostly empty space.



What gives? I thought companies were supposed to be moving to more efficient packaging to help reduce waste and environmental impact. It seems to me packaging should be getting smaller not larger. Even better, we should be using organic material which breaks down more easily than plastic.

Is there a place where citizens can report this kind of waste or influence companies or the government to mitigate such blatant environmental abuse?

I know such packages have the recycle symbol designating them as recyclable, but it seems most of it ends up in landfills anyway.

I don't consider myself a tree-hugger, but I am aware of what's going on with our beautiful, natural environment and believe there are common sense proactive measures we can take to help reduce adverse impact on the environment.
<end of rant>

Sorry if I posted in the wrong forum. Mods, feel free to move my post to a more appropriate forum if necessary.

 

[Whisky]

I picked up a bottle of Ibuprofen at W-mart and thought the bigger bottle must have more pills in it than the one it was replacing. To my surprise upon getting home and reading the label I discovered it contained the same quantity of 100 pills just like the old bottle!

View attachment 1864565 View attachment 1864567

When I opened it up and looked inside, the pills only take up about one-fourth the capacity of the bottle, leaving mostly empty space.

View attachment 1864569

What gives? I thought companies were supposed to be moving to more efficient packaging to help reduce waste and environmental impact. It seems to me packaging should be getting smaller not larger. Even better, we should be using organic material which breaks down more easily than plastic.

Is there a place where citizens can report this kind of waste or influence companies or the government to mitigate this kind of environmental abuse?

I don't consider myself a tree-hugger, but I am aware of what's going on with our beautiful, natural environment and believe there are common sense proactive measures we can take to help reduce adverse impact on the environment.

Sorry if I posted in the wrong forum. Mods, feel free to move my post to a more appropriate forum if necessary.

One size bottle can fit up to a certain number of pills, say 400. Company saves money by only purchasing one size, rather than multiple sizes for different counts of pills. The same larger bottle can also be used for larger items like liquigels etc. I agree that a more environmentally friendly type of package should be used, but plastic is cheap and readily available.

 

[Goatrope]

but plastic is cheap and readily available.

Agreed.

I for one would be glad to pay an extra 10 cents a bottle if they would use more environmentally friendly packaging, but I'm sure that's probably not a popular view.

 

[DesertIguana]

One of the reason many small products are over packaged is Retail Thieft.

Small high dollar items are thrift targets.

Local Cops just busted these ladies.

https://hoodline.com/2024/04/phoenix-police-unveil-operation-makeup-breakup-trio-charged-in-560-000-retail-theft-ring-bust/

 

[simon1]

I picked up a bottle of Ibuprofen at W-mart and thought the bigger bottle must have more pills in it than the one it was replacing. To my surprise upon getting home and reading the label I discovered it contained the same quantity of 100 pills just like the old bottle!

View attachment 1864565 View attachment 1864567

When I opened it up and looked inside, the pills only take up about one-fourth the capacity of the bottle, leaving mostly empty space.

View attachment 1864569

What gives? I thought companies were supposed to be moving to more efficient packaging to help reduce waste and environmental impact. It seems to me packaging should be getting smaller not larger. Even better, we should be using organic material which breaks down more easily than plastic.

Is there a place where citizens can report this kind of waste or influence companies or the government to mitigate such blatant environmental abuse?

I know such packages have the recycle symbol designating them as recyclable, but it seems most of it ends up in landfills anyway.

I don't consider myself a tree-hugger, but I am aware of what's going on with our beautiful, natural environment and believe there are common sense proactive measures we can take to help reduce adverse impact on the environment.
<end of rant>

Sorry if I posted in the wrong forum. Mods, feel free to move my post to a more appropriate forum if necessary.

I fully agree things have gotten out of hand...and it is ridiculous. People jump up and down that "plastic" is ruining our ground and oceans, but look how things have changed.

Milk bottles used to be glass...now they are plastic.

Soda bottles used to be glass...now they are plastic.

Mustard, mayo, and ketchup bottles used to be glass...now they are plastic.

Coffee cans used to be metal, now they are plastic.

Motor oil used to be metal or paper type cans, now they are plastic.

Gas cans used to be metal and now they are...plastic.

And on and on and on.

I'm not listening to the people that are raising cain (not you Goatrope) about the plastic pollution but are not doing anything to change things. I'd be happy to go back to glass and metal, but I'm not a bean counter for corporations. The plastic thing kinda reminds me of the Ford Pinto disaster where the gas tank would blow up when hit from behind...the corporate executives decided that it would be cheaper to pay the wrongful death claims than correcting the manufacturing problems that caused the cars to explode.

 

[StillShaving]

Did you see the shopping "hack" posted on social media. Hack being an inappropriate euphemism for theft. Where a shopper would open a second bottle of liquid laundry detergent in order to top off the first bottle before purchasing. The secondary issue being why does the bottle have much spare capacity.

 

[Ted A]

I read, whether true or an urban tale, that some country put a tax on the disposal of waste packaging. It was imposed on the party who disposed of the packaging. The tax was sufficient enough that consumers would stand at the end of the checkout counter, strip off all the excess packaging they could and leave it in the store. That, of course, meant the store would have to dispose of the waste and pay the tax. It took very little time for the stores to stock the products with the least waste and pressure the manufacturers to eliminate waste.

A significant enough extra cost to the manufacturer for waste would change the profit equation, perhaps.

 

[Time Bandit]

One size bottle can fit up to a certain number of pills, say 400. Company saves money by only purchasing one size, rather than multiple sizes for different counts of pills. The same larger bottle can also be used for larger items like liquigels etc. I agree that a more environmentally friendly type of package should be used, but plastic is cheap and readily available.

Plastic isn't cheap when you consider the long-term cost to us all.

Plastic never degrades it only get worn down into smaller pieces. Look up nanoplastic. Seriously, look it up. Every day all of us are consuming pieces of plastic so small that they can cross cellular membrane interfering with cellular function, it gets into the tissue of our organs and even into our brain.

Plastic had been around so long and so much of it had been produced that it's basically everywhere. Any food that's touches plastic packaging has nanoplastic in it. It's in the soil and it's even in the air we breath. This is no joke.

The cost to our health will be catastrophic. We're only now starting to realize how bad the exposure is. I mean plastic leaches out chemicals when its heated and/or when it ages. These chemicals cause all kinds of nasty things. People are fooled into thing BPA free means safe. That's wrong. There are many more plasticizers to be worried about.

I get that you meant the cost here and now, for the goods being sold but honestly the cost of producing and using plastic is massive.

 

[Whisky]

Plastic isn't cheap when you consider the long-term cost to us all.

Plastic never degrades it only get worn down into smaller pieces. Look up nanoplastic. Seriously, look it up. Every day all of us are consuming pieces of plastic so small that they can cross cellular membrane interfering with cellular function, it gets into the tissue of our organs and even into our brain.

Plastic had been around so long and so much of it had been produced that it's basically everywhere. Any food that's touches plastic packaging has nanoplastic in it. It's in the soil and it's even in the air we breath. This is no joke.

The cost to our health will be catastrophic. We're only now starting to realize how bad the exposure is. I mean plastic leaches out chemicals when its heated and/or when it ages. These chemicals cause all kinds of nasty things. People are fooled into thing BPA free means safe. That's wrong. There are many more plasticizers to be worried about.

I get that you meant the cost here and now, for the goods being sold but honestly the cost of producing and using plastic is massive.

Agree 100%. Unfortunately, I don’t think we’ll be able to cut out plastics everywhere, ever. There’s just too much of it in everything we use. My wife and I are trying to mitigate the amount we and especially our kids are exposed to as much as we can. We have no more plastic storage containers we use glass instead, we try to buy 100% natural fiber clothes for everyone in the family (this is almost impossible), we use aluminum foil instead of cling wrap where possible, we use metal water bottles instead of plastic, and other things like that. If I could find a place locally that sold milk in glass bottles that doesn’t cost $8 for a 1/2 gallon I’d buy that too. In the grand scheme of plastic usage I know these are token efforts, but we’re really trying to teach our children to be more mindful of the things they purchase and how those things are packaged.

 

[Ad Astra]

Trash is disheartening ... I bury any trash I find, and pack mine out.

It's those plastic clamshell packages that are killing me, lol. You can ruin an edge getting some stupidity out of its package.

AA

 

[DesertIguana]

Many Cities had recycling programs, many have ended, reason is little demand for recycled items. Was-Mart make the VEST's their people wear out of recycle shopping bags.

Recall doing a story back pre 1997 on business in San Francisco California, if I recall it was called Used Rubber - U.S.A., they made all sort of stuff from Purses, Wallets, Boob Bags out of used 18 Wheeler Inner Tubes.

 

[Goatrope]

WHAT?? There's global warming too?

Don't get me started on another pet peeve of mine.

EV's better for environment than gas powered vehicles? I doubt it.

 

[Tirvine]

Add me to the list of those who are opposed to excess packaging and the proliferation of plastic. i am always searching for products with less or at least more earth friendly packaging. This being a shaving forum, I commend the minimal paper and cardboard packaging of Personna lab blues. I also like wooden shaving soap bowls rather than plastic tubs. I use powdered laundry detergent that comes in cardboard boxes, bar soap rather than plastic jugs of body wash, and so on. Things that come in glass get the nod over plastic packaged competitors. At least glass in a landfill is inert. All natural fibers for clothing. I do not need the microplastic ingestion that comes with wearing plastic based clothing. It is, admittedly, a losing battle, much like my all native xeriscaped lawn amidst expanses of heavily watered (or dead) St. Augustine.

 

[Time Bandit]

Agree 100%. Unfortunately, I don’t think we’ll be able to cut out plastics everywhere, ever. There’s just too much of it in everything we use. My wife and I are trying to mitigate the amount we and especially our kids are exposed to as much as we can. We have no more plastic storage containers we use glass instead, we try to buy 100% natural fiber clothes for everyone in the family (this is almost impossible), we use aluminum foil instead of cling wrap where possible, we use metal water bottles instead of plastic, and other things like that. If I could find a place locally that sold milk in glass bottles that doesn’t cost $8 for a 1/2 gallon I’d buy that too. In the grand scheme of plastic usage I know these are token efforts, but we’re really trying to teach our children to be more mindful of the things they purchase and how those things are packaged.

I love everything about what you and your family are doing.

You're right that in today's world it's virtually impossible to completely eliminate it but all those behaviors you mentioned are going a long way to minimizing you and your families exposure. Which ultimately means less ends up in your bodies. Here in my home we do the exact same things.

One of the hardest sources to deal with though is water. Bottled water is so prevalent and convenient but just about all "purified" water comes from reverse osmosis filters that pass huge amount of nano plastic into the filtered water.

How does your family address your water needs?

 

[Whisky]

@Time Bandit sorry I forgot to quote your question.

I’ll admit to buying the occasional bottled water due to convenience. For the most part though it’s just municipal water that’s been filtered through 2 activated charcoal filters, one whole house, and one in the fridge. Water goes in metal water bottles and goes with us when we go out. Activated charcoal has been shown to remove micro plastics, I believe the jury is still out on nano plastics. I’ve thought about and researched RO and most of what I’ve read sats that most of the plastics from RO are from the filters not being changed often enough so membranes start to break down.

For trips or when we may need more than a 1 day supply of water I use a canned water like this one. I know they use RO to filter it but at least I don’t have the added plastics from the bottles in the water. I also don’t worry about chemicals leaching into it if I leave it in a hot car.

 

[Ad Astra]

Bottled water ... I've seen people fighting over a case, right before a hurricane.

These people don't have any containers? One stainless steel bottle is all anybody needs. Prefilter with a coffee filter and park that thing in the fire. Boiling even removes microplastics, I heard.


AA

 

[Tirvine]

We have big (30 oz) Yetis that are always with us. They keep water cold for a full day, but we drink more than that. We refill from the Brita in the fridge. Yeti cost more than the competition like RTIC but was the only one that was clearly dishwasher safe. We have not had bottled water for ages. Also, although we rarely drink soda, all sodas come in cans or bottles, no plastic.

 

[Whisky]

These people don't have any containers?

They’ve got them, just have no idea how to use them.

 

[Lightcs1776]

Sorry, I just don’t but it. I believe there are many other factors involved.

 

[Jay21]

Hot off the press. Maybe this will get some people’s attention about plastic.

Detection of microplastics in the human penis - International Journal of Impotence Research

The proliferation of microplastics (MPs) represents a burgeoning environmental and health crisis. Measuring less than 5 mm in diameter, MPs have infiltrated atmospheric, freshwater, and terrestrial ecosystems, penetrating commonplace consumables like seafood, sea salt, and bottled beverages...

www.nature.com