A shopper was entertained by packaging encountered at a supermarket and took to the internet to share their shock. However, the wasteful plastic packaging practice is no laughing matter for more than one reason.
What's happening?
The shopper shared the post to r/EgregiousPackaging, a subreddit dedicated to sharing instances of products that use entirely too much packaging.
"Saw this in the supermarket and had a laughing fit, they are glass jars in a plastic pot in another sort of packaging," they wrote above a photo of just that.
A dozen or so of the items sit in a wire basket, all individually shrink-wrapped to keep the other two plastic items the glass jar is in together. Large white labels with barcodes can be seen on the backs of several of the packages.
"Surely they could have put the large white labels on the lid...?" commented one user.
"My guess is that they needed to put on the large white labels visible on the back of the packaging, but they could not put them directly on the glasses since that would cover the original label," said another. "Someone MacGyver'd this solution using deli containers they had in hand."
Why is excessive plastic packaging important?
Extra packaging, even if it's the store's own solution using what they have available, costs the company more. Companies often pass the burden onto the customer to offset these costs, making products more expensive.
Aside from possible unnecessary costs to consumers, plastic waste is a huge global problem that is only getting huger and contributes enormously to Earth's overheating. World Bank data from 2016 showed that about 267 million U.S. tons of plastic waste was created in 2016. With instances like the one shared by the OP, that number has likely grown.
If you consider that the instance shared by the OP is one of too many to count, the amount of waste becomes almost hard to picture.
This waste fills our oceans and landfills. The EPA reports that conventional plastics may take tens to hundreds of years to break down in nature. As they break down, they create invasive microplastics and wreak havoc on ecosystems and the humans and wildlife that call them home.
Is the company doing anything about this?
The company responsible for the packaging in this post is never stated and is not determinable from the photo.
That said, many grocery stores have been called out for similar wasteful packaging, and some have answered the call in one way or another. Walmart is replacing plastic mailing envelopes with recyclable paper, and Kroger has instituted a zero-waste shopping program, just to name a few.
What's being done about plastic waste more broadly?
Companies are working to reduce plastic pollution by creating edible coating for produce to replace plastic, paper packaging to cut down on plastic, and compostable microwave mac and cheese cups, to name a few examples.
Individually, we can support brands that use plastic-free packaging, find plastic-free options for everyday products, and talk to our friends and family about these issues so they might make changes, too.
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