The Problem with Packaging

Tree huggers and environmental advocates everywhere are always urging consumers to purchase products that use as little packaging as possible. While this is good, sound advice, even well-intentioned shoppers wind up reaching for the brand names or sale items instead of the environmentally sound alternatives, which often trumps their desire to avoid excess packaging. So, how big of a deal is it, really? Most people are stunned to discover that, as of a 2006 EPA report, 32% of all Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) in this country comes from product packaging alone. That's nearly 84 million tons a year, or 1/3 of all trash hauled away from our homes and dumped into landfills!

The sad thing is, much of this packaging is unnecessary. There's a whole psychology to product packaging; graphics and color schemes draw attention to the product, while larger packages take up more shelf space, which makes consumers think they're getting more for their money and also increases product visiblity on store shelves. Also, manufacturers can charge more for all the extra materials used to package the product, which is a sneaky way to increase their profits. Are we really that distracted by bright and shiny objects? Research suggests that we are, and as long as we keep succumbing to these sales tricks, manufacturers will continue in their wasteful ways.

As far as unnecessary packaging goes, some of the biggest culprits (in my opinion) are print cartridges, eletronic accessories, and over-the-counter drugs. Have you noticed that the box the print cartridges come in are usually twice the size of the actual cartridge, which is nestled in a plastic tray (usually made from hard-to-recycle plastic), which is encased in a plastic bag? Sure, the box has all the information and instructions on it, and the plastic tray keeps the cartridge from rattling around the box, but all the same instructions are printed on the plastic bag! Why not just poke a hole in the plastic bag and hang it on a hook!?!

I recently bought a memory card for my camera (it's a very small disk), which came encased in plastic packaging the size of a paperback-- why!?! And pill bottles drive me nuts. I bought some allergy medicine last year, which was embedded in an oddly shaped plastic package (which requires much more shelf space and larger shipping boxes than the bottle alone). It wasn't for protective purposes; I removed a tamper-resistant seal on the bottle when I finally got it dug out of the package. Once I got the bottle opened, I then pulled out a large piece of cotton, then dumped out some miniscule pills, which barely covered the bottom of the bottle. Ridiculous.

That said, there are some responsible producers and manufacturers out there. Take cell phone companies, for instance. They have one sample of each make and model of phone on display, and once the customer selects one, they go into the back and bring out an unremarkable box, filled to the brim with the phone, charger, and instruction manual. Windex has come out with refill packets for their glass cleaner-- a one-by-three-inch package of concentrated cleaner can be dumped into an empty spray bottle, mixed with water, and-- voila!-- a whole new bottle of Windex, minus the plastic bottle disposal.

I know some of these measures are used as shoplifting deterrants, but surely there are better ways to go about it... What if pharmacies had bulk dispensers of some of the most popular OTC drugs (like the plastic bins with the different colored jelly beans at most candy stores)? If customers come in with an empty bottle, they can get it refilled, at a discount. Or why not keep more of the small electronics behind a counter? With minimal packaging, stores could fit quite a number of products behind the electronics counter. Leave one out on display, like the cell phone stores do, and only pull out the product after the sale has been made. As for ink cartridges, many stores already offer a refill option on existing cartridges, which is something every consumer should take advantage of whenever possible!

The European Union issues levies (taxes) on manufacturers who use excessive packaging; if they want to waste materials, they can, but they will be charged accordingly. While it's not a ban or a law that producers would likely rail against, it has proven to be an effective deterrant in wasteful packaging. Our government and policies, unlike those of the EU, are more reactionary than preventative, but consumers can wise up now-- look at the packaging before purchasing a product. If we band together, we can pressure manufacturers even if our government will not... When it comes to product packaging, if consumers boycott the worst offenders, they will get the message!

Daylight Saving Time!

I love Daylight Saving Time, especially in the spring. For me, the extra hour of daylight in the evenings is synonomous with growth, renewal, happiness, and all things summer. In fact, I consider the extension of Daylight Saving Time in 2006-- by moving up the start date by three weeks in the spring and delaying the end date by a week in the fall-- to be the single crowning achievement of the Bush Administration. I was surprised to find out, however, just how many people disagree with me. They argue that it's hard to get up in the dark and reset their internal clocks, to lose an hour of sleep, and even to lose an hour of drinking time at the bars the night the clocks change.

Although the idea of Daylight Saving Time started with Benjamin Franklin, in an essay written while in Paris in 1784, it wasn't seriously considered until Englishman William Willet took up the cause, lobbying to shift the clocks ahead a total of 80 minutes on four consecutive Sundays in April, and to reverse the progression by the same incriments in November. He began lobbying Parliament in 1909, and was met with much ridicule. He continued to fight for this idea of "Summer Time" until his death in 1915; the bill finally passed in 1916 and was adopted in the U.S. two years later.

The argument has long been that Daylight Saving Time (note it's not Daylight Savings Time, even though that sounds more grammatically correct) helps save energy because people are able to rely on natural light later into the evening. However, the advent of air conditioning seems to have negated these benefits somewhat, as people are instead using the energy to run their fans and window units longer than they might otherwise do. In fact, a study was recently done in Indiana (a state which has been a little slow on the uptake, only switching to DST at the request of the Bush Administration in 2006) that shows energy usage went up during the summer hours, which reinforced their theory that DST was useless. What the study failed to mention, however, was the climate trends and population growth from the years used in the comparison.

Whatever your position on the matter, I find it's easier to get up in the dark those first few mornings when I think ahead to the long, lazy days of summer, and the time spent outdoors in the evenings, when the kids can stay out and play until bedtime. It's much more depressing to me when the daylight goes away, when it's dark by the time I come home from work. And not even an extra hour of sleep can change that.

Don't Grab a Kleenex!

While we're still in the midst of cold and flu season, let me pose this question: do you know where your Kleenex comes from? For most of you, I'm guessing the answer is no. Instead of repurposing recycled paper content, giant corporations like Kimberly-Clark, Proctor and Gamble, and Georgia Pacific knowingly and actively participate in the deforestation of some of North America's most ancient forests. Greenpeace has been fighting Kimberly-Clark (makers of Kleenex, Scott, and Cottonelle, among others) since 2004 to adopt a more responsible approach to the manufacture of such disposable products. Kleenex has fought back, reluctant to change their destructive and wasteful ways. So now, nearly five years later, the battle rages on.

This article in today's New York Times reminded me of this fact and got me mad all over again. Think about it; do we really need to cut down trees that have been enhancing the beauty of our planet and providing forest animals shelter for hundreds of years, just so we can wipe our ass with (or blow our snot into) something shiny and new? NO! This nation's trend toward bigger and better, regardless of the cost, has only fueled these companies' desires to create 2-, 3-, or 4-ply, quilted, padded, and even moisturized personal tissue items.

Sure, they're soft. Sure, they're aesthetically pleasing. But the luxury is NOT worth the damage caused to wildlife and to the environment. For all the energy it takes to cut down, process, bleach, heat, and package the sad remnants of a once-majestic tree, those hefty costs are passed on to the consumer while our natural resources are destroyed. I'm no businessperson, but it makes far more sense to me to use recycled paper products, which are far more cost and energy effective, and manufacturers can instead pass savings onto their consumers while maintaining their profit margins!

Now, I'm not suggesting that everyone go back to carrying a handkerchief, because that's... well... gross-- but you can be a smart consumer and vote with your wallet. For example, Trader Joe's sells wonderful (and cheap!) paper products that are 100% recycled, use up to 80% post-consumer content, and are not whitened with any chlorine bleach. The tissue boxes are funny and even fashionable, and cost less than a dollar (and the toilet paper doesn't leave any remnants on your behind)! If you have a terrible cold and are going through multiple boxes of tissues a day and your nose has been rubbed so raw that you just have to get a box of ancient-forest tissue, I suppose I can look the other way for a bit, but for average, everyday use, recycled tissue reigns supreme!

Winter, Be Gone!

Winter in Chicago always seems to become interminable this time of year. We haven't seen the ground in more than a month, and our usually vibrant city is colorless and ugly, made dull by a film of snow and ice, road salt, and "city sludge" that covers every available surface. The unmelted snow is a blank canvas for all the filth and pollution generated in this city; every bit of territory marked by the neighborhood dogs is instantly visible along the deep snow banks, and the discolored snow by the roadside ranges from a weak coffee brown to charcoal black. Have you ever noticed how starkly a freshly washed car stands out against the dull winter landscape? Even then, the color doesn't stay true for long. I washed my car just two days ago, and it is once again the color of grime, with only a hint of red.

Has anyone else wondered what causes snow to turn that color? It's not dirt, people-- the ground has been frozen solid for months. It's a combination of the soot and particulates belched out by countless car and truck exhausts, fragments of rubber from car tires, and even specks of concrete and blacktop that have unintentionally dissipated from the roadways and fallen from the overpasses. This is a direct result of the repeated plowing and salting that city streets endure each winter, which in turn creates potholes, cracks in the infrastructure, and yes, countless blown-out tires. This pollution, some of which is absorbed by flowering plants and trees or washed away by cleansing rains during the warmer months, stares us in the face each winter, soiling even fresh snowfall like dust on the fingertip of a white kid glove.

Despite efforts to "green" the city, during the months that aren't actually green, the pollution has nowhere to hide. Chicago was nicknamed "the Black City" during the Golden age (around the turn of the twentieth century) because of the smoke and soot generated by trains, iron and steel plants, slaughterhouses, and other industries, which covered nearly everything downwind. Pollution management has gotten unquestionably better since then, but despite these improvements, the city still has a long way to go. Although the sources may be different now, the outcome is the same; extensive pollutants in the Windy City.

The Blue Carts are Coming! The Blue Carts are Coming!

Actually, the blue carts are here! They were delivered to eligible homes in my ward last evening-- hooray! Although we received information about the blue cart program (along with an invitation to participate) weeks before, my apartment building has too many units to be eligible for this program. It looks like they will accept all the same materials they accept at the drop-off centers, which is nice. The brochure shows pictures of the many items that can be recycled in these blue carts, and does not require the different materials to be sorted (or even rinsed [!!]-- just emptied), and recyclables will be picked up every other week starting in February. First a drop-off recycling center in the park across the street, now blue carts in the alleys... it's a good day in the 33rd ward!

The GAIA-Movement?

It seems like clothing donation boxes are everywhere in this city; they're scattered through almost every neighborhood in grocery store parking lots or next to gas stations or banks. I was all set to tout the virtues of the non-profit group behind the large spring-green donation bins, the GAIA-Movement, until I started doing a little research. This 501 (c) (3) charity, named after the mythological Greek term for "Living Earth", was started in 1970 by a group of Danish teachers, now known as Tvind. The organization was started under the premise of James Lovelock's Gaia Theory, which states that the Earth is a living planet, and that:

"All life forms work together in symbiosis to make this planet habitable, regulating the atmosphere the oceans and the climate. Humans also contribute to the life of the atmosphere, oceans, and earth. We believe that humans affect the environment both positively and negatively. We believe current human activities are disrupting the composition of the environment with possible disastrous consequences. We think that action is needed."

According to the Web site, the Gaia Movement collects donations (they primarily solicit clothing, but accept all sorts of odds and ends), which are sold to resale shops (usually in third-world countries) and the money raised goes to fund a myriad of environmental projects, such as recycling and landscape beautification at home and water and energy conservation projects abroad.

The Gaia Movement came to Chicago in 1999, and now has more than 500 green donation boxes scattered throughout the region. They had an overwhelming response from generous, eco-conscious Chicagoans; the group raised more than $2,000,000 the first three years alone! What attracted me to this organization was their environmental purpose and charitable promises, which are listed right on the side of the box, and the fact that they even accept clothes that are no longer wearable, because they can recycle the fibers!

I sent an email to the Program Manager of the Chicago branch last fall, asking on behalf of the shelter where I volunteer if they would accept the threadbare linens for recycling, but received no response. I imagine they will, though, because according to their Web site, textiles are one of the easiest materials to recycle, yet only 15% of all discarded clothing in the United States manages to stay out of the landfill! I also like the convenience of their many drop-off locations; there's a donation box sitting in the Burger King parking lot at the end of my street-- it's so easy!

The thing that gives me pause, though, is this Tribune article from 2004. As it turns out, high-ranking members of Tvind, the founders of the Gaia Movement, are under criminal investigation in Europe for embezzlement, tax evasion, and money laundering schemes. The article goes on to say, that:

"(al)though Tvind leaders face criminal trial and front-page headlines in Europe, the group flourishes in the U.S. ... Tvind’s Chicago-area operations demonstrate how the international collective sustains itself by generous clothing donations, idealistic volunteers and the determination of middle managers who live in Spartan conditions for the sake of a revolutionary creed."

"At the center are Gaia’s green bins. They stand 6 1/2 feet tall and weigh 500 pounds when empty. In an America where the average person recycles or donates to charity less than a quarter of the 68 pounds of textiles he or she tosses out every year, the Gaia bins offer what people seem to want: painless altruism, cleaner closets and utter convenience."

The article goes on to say that the Gaia movement has ties to for-profit organizations such as U'SAgain and Planet-Aid, and despite the claims that more than $2,000,000 a year goes toward environmental projects, a reported 96% of that money instead funded the business of resale clothing and paying their Atlanta-based contractors. I tried to follow the money trail posted in the sidebar to this article, but quickly got a headache. I'm not an accountant or an investigator, so I don't know what to believe.

I can tell you what I think, though-- I think that it's best to donate reusable clothes directly to resale or thrift shops instead of to a third-party organization. Legitimate resale-clothing outfits, such as Goodwill and the Salvation Army, have decreased the number of drop boxes located throughout the community because these boxes are costly to maintain, and it's too easy for improperly packaged donations to get wet or dirty when dropped into these metal collection bins, which then makes them unusable.

I still think these boxes are great for unusable clothes (and linens!) because these textiles are reportedly recycled, which is something most other organizations like this are unable to do. I worry less about what they do with the profits that come from selling recycled textile fibers, because the good that comes from recycling somewhat negates the allegedly shady monetary actions, at least for me. I guess the moral here is, while it's good to support environmental causes, it might be even better to first do some homework on the organization you're looking to support first, because sometimes these things aren't always what they seem.

A Place for Prescriptions?

Good news, Chicago! We now have more options when it comes to recycling (or at least keeping out of the waste stream) expired and unused prescription drugs! Mayor Daley has partnered with the Department of the Environment and the Chicago Police Department and has installed pharmaceutical drop boxes in five Area Police Headquarters. These drop boxes are permanent, and available to residents 24/7. The USEPA funds the collection of these Rx and OTC drugs, while the IEPA funds their disposal.

Proponents of this program hope that, by providing a more convenient method of proper disposal, more residents will be inclined to recycle the unwanted contents of their medicine cabinets rather than flushing them down the toilet, which was long thought to be the best way to get rid of unwanted medicines. However, since trace amounts of pharmaceuticals have been showing up in our drinking water (yikes!), it's becoming increasingly clear that we need to find a better way.

The permanent drop-off boxes are available in addition to the City's Household Chemicals and Computer Recycling Facility (on Goose Island) and the occasional recycling events hosted by the DOE, and their placement in police stations is no accident. I've long thought that pharmacies should take back unwanted and expired drugs from their customers (I've heard that some actually do, but I've yet to find them), and perhaps someday they will, but I guess the problem is that if people drop off controlled substances (like OxyContin) or other strong medications, the pharmacies could get into legal trouble because these medications need to be carefully monitored and kept under lock and key at all times so they don't wind up in the wrong hands.

These new drop boxes are designed to keep drugs in and people out, where they remain under the watchful eye of area law enforcement until they can be removed and taken to the Goose Island facility for packaging, then transported to a state-of-the art disposal facility where they are safely incinerated. For the location of the new drop boxes, or to print an informational flyer, visit the city's web site at http://www.cityofchicago.org/.

Photo: City of Chicago