Produce more environmentally friendly packaging materials

http://www.smartkarton.com/SK/index.html

This organization is seeking an intern from Wash. U. The Skandalaris Center is providing funding for an interested student to take the internship.

http://www.sc.wustl.edu
http://www.ideabounce.com

"Produce more environmentally friendly packaging materials" sounds good at first, but I think we should try not to produce more packaging of any kind. Really I would support "produce less environmentally unfriendly packaging", or "cut back on packaging and make current materials more environmentally friendly"

As long as the government isn't the one who mandates it. The federal government is the worst offender in terms of environmental destruction. I trust them least of all. The free market, on the other hand, is a beautiful thing that people always underestimate as a catalyst for change.

Costco and other whole sellers using a more "environmentally friendly" material may be effective, but why dont they just reduce the size of their packages? It would cost less money for them...can anyone elaborate more on the material Costco may be changing to?

did you catch the article/special section on CSR or Corporate Social Responsibility? it's a worldwide explosion of becoming greener, faster . . . see it @economist.com

Once the site is fully up and running, including the blog, this is going to be one of our first big projects. Aside from being dangerous and incredibly annoying, these clamshell packages are incredibly bad for the environment. They are used for two reasons:

1) Out of vanity to present a product in a more appealing fashion by uncreative, lazy companies.

2) They are used by stores (the big culprit here is Costco and other wholesalers) to prevent "shrinkage" or theft. What they're doing is passing those costs onto the consumer both in time and annoyance opening a package and onto the environment.

Costco has promised to start using a more environmentally friendly material, but we need to be sure to hold their feet to the fire. Stay tuned on the blog, I have an INCREDIBLE picture to share with everyone!