An employee took to Reddit to share their frustration with an example of the company they work for putting a hat on a hat. In this case, however, both hats were plastic products, and the result of the policy is much more harmful.
What's happening?
The employee posted a photo to the r/Anticonsumption subreddit of a cardboard box filled with plastic, writing: "Can't stand my work using plastic to wrap everything."
"And the plastic in this box was all from individually* wrapped reusable bags that are just recycled polyester. the irony," they added.
"Make sure to wrap the plastic in plastic so that the plastic doesn't get damaged," one sarcastic commenter wrote.
"Can't you make a suggestion that using a more sustainable filling material will be better PR?" another asked, to which the original poster replied: "I could totally make a suggestion but I'm just a sales associate and I work for a big corporation. they actually just recently implemented the plastic wrap for every individual bag, they used to wrap in large quantities."
Why is plastic wrap concerning?
Not only is packaging like this unnecessary, as the OP pointed out, but it also comes with several unfortunate costs.
Materials aren't free; the more packaging used, the more the company spends. Often, this added cost is put on the consumer in the form of raised prices on the products to offset the cost of its packaging.
Plastic wrap also comes with a cost to the planet. Statista reported that around 40 million tons of municipal plastic waste is tossed in the trash annually in the United States. Once thrown away, this plastic waste ends up in landfills, the ocean, and other ecosystems, where it wreaks havoc.
Plastic takes hundreds of years to break down, creating planet-warming pollution and dangerous microplastics, threatening human health and wildlife.
🗣️ When you think about a product's packaging, which of these factors is more important to you?
🔘 The way it looks 😍
🔘 The information it provides 🧐
🔘 The waste it produces 🗑️
🔘 I don't think about packaging at all 🤷
🗳️ Click your choice to see results and speak your mind
Further, it takes dirty energy sources to make the plastic in the first place, so from manufacture to unboxing, it harms the environment the entire way.
Is the company doing anything about this?
The OP didn't name the "big corporation" they work for, but based on their comment that it was a new decision to wrap each product in plastic wrap, reducing its packaging waste is likely not on the company's radar.
What's being done about plastic waste more broadly?
Thankfully, many other big corporations, such as Home Depot, Nestle, and Best Buy, are working hard to reduce their packaging waste.
Other companies are developing alternatives to plastic wrap, including a product made from potatoes, a spray-on product, and one made from seaweed.
Individually, you can avoid plastic in your everyday life and be sure to shop from companies that practice sustainability.
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