With the state of the environment today it seems like living green is on a lot of people’s minds. It has become increasingly obvious that, as a society, we need to re-evaluate the choices we make as consumers. There is a growing public consciousness about how the things we do and purchase affect our Earth. These are all great progressions in the battle to change our world, but while people are thinking more about the products they buy, there is often little attention paid to the packages these products come in.

Many product packages are unnecessarily bulky and not made of easily recyclable materials. In fact packaging contributes approximately 50% of landfill waste and with about 53% percent of product packaging being made of plastic; it will be there for a very long time. Plastic does not break down quickly. Plastic can be recycled, but many municipalities will only take certain kinds of plastics and it varies from area to area. Paper and cardboard are also major contributors to packaging waste. Paper and board don’t account for as much of the packaging as plastics, but due to the higher weight of these materials, they do contribute more in volume. Metals and glass also add to the pile. Amazingly, only 42% of aluminum cans are recycled. Even with the option of recycling, most of it ends up in the landfill where it sits for a very long time. Some types of plastics can take 1000 years to break down and if they are burned they can release very harmful chemicals into the atmosphere. You can often acquire a list of accepted recyclables in your area from your municipal office if you are unsure.

There are a few options for reducing the impact that packaging has on the environment and here are some of them:

Stay away from over-packaged products. Many products are packaged in boxes and containers that are too large for them. This is done to make the product appear larger and is usually more evident in food and beverage products. Products with excessive packaging are wasteful and pointless.

Avoid buying things in individual serving sizes. Purchase larger containers of things instead of a lot of smaller containers which add more waste.

Recycle all packaging that can be recycled. It will take longer to sort, but it will greatly reduce your household waste which reduces the amount of trash in the landfills.

Get a list of acceptable recyclable materials for where you live before you go shopping to make sure you won’t end up throwing things away.


Where ever possible re-use containers and packaging for other things. A good example of this is cleaning out plastic food containers to use for leftovers and other things. Make sure you clean them out well. You can also re-fill drink containers instead of buying new ones.


Many stores now offer re-usable shopping bags or recycling programs for plastic shopping bags. Take advantage of this. The re-usable bags are inexpensive and much sturdier than plastic bags which tend to stretch and tear. We can reduce a great deal of landfill waste by eliminating plastic shopping bags and finding uses for the ones we already have.


Environmental concern is changing the way we look at the products we purchase. It is time that we also change the way we look at the packaging that these products come in. The market is driven by consumer needs and demands. As consumers, if we let companies know that we don’t want over-packaged products in materials that are harmful and wasteful, we can change the way things are packaged. Reducing packaging waste and the use of non-renewable or non-recyclable resources will greatly reduce the harmful effect our consumerism has on the world in which we live.