Community recycling enterprise Wanaka Wastebusters is running its Unpackit Awards again in 2012.
It’s asking people to nominate the best and worst product packaging they’ve come across. The Unpackit Awards were run for the first time in 2011 with over 100 nominations receiving nearly 9000 votes. This time it’s aiming to get even more people involved.
If you’ve bought something and been impressed by its minimal and well-designed recyclable or reusable packaging, this is your chance to let the company know. Or if you’ve been driven crazy by the small mountain of non-recyclable and non-reusable waste left behind, here’s your opportunity to single out the offending packaging.
To place your nomination, go to www.unpackit.org.nz before 10 February 2012. The winning packaging will be chosen through a public online vote.
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Brother Ink Cartridge packaging would be the worst by far. The stiff plastic just about wrecks the scissors and cuts your hands trying to open it.
Obviously done to deter theft but.....
One day I'm going to ask the checkout operator to open it for me!
Eta peanuts' packaging introduced 2-3 years ago is brilliantly imaginative:
a] top tears off easily AND leaves the edges uneven so that they can be easily separated and pulled open by fat/fumbly fingers;
b] easy to operate "zip" for effective resealing;
c] broad/wide base enables secure standing alone.
Schmackos dry dog foods are similarly well packaged.
Bananas must be the perfect packaging-free product - they come ready-wrapped AND grouped together. So why do some people insist on putting a bunch of bananas in a plastic bag at the supermarket? Drives me nuts every time I see it!
I find most 2 litre ice cream cotainers and 1 litre yogurt containers extremely difficult to open for the first time. Some jam jars are not keen on the idea of being opened for the first time either. Why do we have to fight to get into our food?
Griffins Biscuits seem to be unable to package biscuits so that they can be delivered unbroken.
When I was a kid we could buy broken wine biscuits for a penny a pound, now we cant buy whole biscuits at any price.
Wolfenden and Russell in South Dunedin have used soft paper bags for purchases for as long as I can remember, even when it was not fashionable. The bags are totally compostable or recyclable
My new Acer computer had all-cardboard except for two plastic bags which were #2 plastic so also recyclable.
What I hate is the small items in between sheets of crimped together sealed plastic which are practically impervious to scissors ,and even resistant to Stevens knives! What is the ordinary domestic household supposed to use? I try to look for unpackaged alternatives these days - plastic which isn't heat-sealed for a start - and only if it is there to protect a delicate item. But often there isn't the choice.
I seem to remember that Germany passed a law some years ago allowing customers to remove unnecessary packing in the shop upon purchase, for return to the manufacturer; it had a wonderful effect on how goods arrived in the shop - is it still extant?
I recently bought a macbook pro and was very impressed with the lack of plastic in the package. Still room for improvement but sure beats the acres of styrofoam on the last Dell that I bought.
I'd also like to commend Air NZ on not wrapping their koru hour cheeses in unnecessary packaging and using large bottles of water rather than individual containers. I always refuse the excess packaging (napkins wrapped in plastic!) on flights and bring my own water bottle to avoid using the plastic cups.