This is a column that my wife has been urging me to write for at least 30 years.
Every time she's frustrated by packaging — usually because something is difficult to open, but there are other reasons, too — she looks at me and says, "You tell those plastics companies that people don't like this."
The heavily fortified thermoformed blister packs are the usual target. Like most consumers, she usually gives up on opening them in any sort of civilized manner. She parades the offending package into the kitchen, finds a sharp knife or scissors, and goes to town.
More often than not, she drafts me to help and makes me feel guilty because the plastics companies that I write about every day are creating this problem.
Our goal is to open the package without drawing blood. We have a pretty good record of success, but I admit it's not perfect.
Those blister packs aren't the only targets of her ire. How about the pouches? It's supposed to be easy to tear the top off to get to the shredded cheese, dog treats or granola snacks, and then reseal the container to keep the rest fresh. Those seem to work about half the time.
Or the so-called easy-to-peel packages, like hot dogs. (I admit, we don't always eat healthily.) She fidgets with them for a minute, trying to get her fingernail between the film layers, and then she gives up and cuts the package with a pair of scissors.
Chances are pretty good that you see yourself in some of these scenarios. And if you work for a plastics packaging company, then I imagine you get tired of neighbors and family members complaining about your products.
I feel your pain. I try to defend you. I know that making an easy opening is just one of many factors that go into package design. Some of the other considerations — protecting the contents and security — are actually much more important.
So I've resisted writing about the problems of packaging, at least until now. Steve Toloken's story on the documentary Unwrapping, which he saw last month at the Product Stewardship Institute's 2023 U.S. Product Stewardship Forum, gave me an opening. That venue made sense because the focus of the documentary is on the role packaging plays in looking for solutions to the environmental problems. Two representatives from Eco Enterprises Quebec, which paid for the film, spoke at the conference.
Geneviève Dionne, the organization's director of ecodesign and circular economy, explained that people "love to hate" packaging and that the documentary was aimed at getting viewers to think about the benefits of packaging.
"One of the messages we want to say is that design is a bit more complex than you think it is," she said.
There's been no shortage of documentaries and news reports the past few years that have had more negative messages about packaging. We've heard that it's an environmental nightmare, a threat to wildlife, and that plastics recycling isn't working.
But imagine a world without packaging. Or even a world before the plastics age, when most packages were heavier and more expensive glass or metal, or less secure paper or paperboard.
Packaging truly is underappreciated. And no matter what it's made from, it has an environmental cost. So let's pause a moment to appreciate the benefits. And in the meantime, if you can help me get the lid off this jar of pickles….
Don Loepp is the editor of Plastics News and author of the Plastics Blog.