Sunday, January 17, 2010

No more pointy sharp edges on products

I hate it when I buy stuff at the supermarket and just as the cashier put the stuff I bought, the plastic bag breaks/tears !!!! either right there or when I got home, so I'd have to throw away the plastic bag.... :(

What stuff makes holes in the plastic bag ???
Tubes and Refill pouches that has sharp pointy edges
yupp... they're one of the reason the plastic bags tear so easily !!!
especially the Refill pouches where the plastic material is thicker, making it very easy for the pointy edges to puncture and tear plastic bags. These Refill pouches are everywhere and people buy them because hey... they're refill pouches.... they're cheaper than buying new bottles so people buy them, all the time. and they're one of the main reasons the plastic bags get torn so easily.

Sooo..... How to avoid tearing and wasting the plastic bags ?
Solutions:
- For Manufacturers,
Stop making Sharp pointy edges and Make rounded corners instead.

- For Companies,
If other brand can innovate and make a foot shaped tube with rounded corners (I know you've seen this kind of tube) then you can at least choose or order tubes with rounded edges.


If others can "innovate" and make such a rounded shape (see arrow), you can definitely make all rounded edges !!
thus minimizing plastic bags tear and minimizing waste


Advantages :
- For Manufacturers : You get the credit for being more environmentally friendly and companies will find you for your products.
- For Companies : You get the credit for being more environmentally friendly, you'll be able to have a distinct design and you'll attract more consumers.
- For Mother Earth : Less plastic waste from torn plastic bags = happier mother earth
- For Everyone : We all get to do our part in saving the earth by reducing waste and we get to enjoy life in this beautiful earth, I know it sounds cliche, but it's true.


Why bother ?? it's just plastic bags, it's not like I'm pouring millions of gallons of toxic waste to the sea every hour !
Because a lot of people are still using plastic bags !! and plastic bags are cheap so they get used and thrown away just like that and the unbelievable amount plastic waste is one of our biggest problems right now.
So we need to do what we can, even in the things that may not seem significant

- I know some of us are bringing our own bags (cloth bags or thicker plastic bags) to the supermarkets, but a lot of us tend to forgot to bring them, or people just don't care and they expect to use the plastic bags anyway.

- We can choose to not use the plastic bags and just put stuff we just bought (eg. sharp pointy refill pouches) into the trolley and into our cars, but some don't use cars and some forgot their reusable cloth bags, so they still need to use plastic bags.

- Some supermarkets are charging their plastic bags and selling a higher quality ones so we can reuse them. (in Europe they do. but not in chinatown where plastic bags are still free)
But people still end up paying for these plastic bags and if they tear so easily, they ended up in garbage as soon as we get to our house, so more waste that's going to last for years and years.

- Some supermarkets are cutting budgets by using a cheaper thinner plastic bags resulting in more tear-able plastic bags and ending up in more waste.

- Some supermarkets in developing countries are still restricting customers to bring cloth bags inside supermarkets due to theft risk


So................ I hope manufacturers and companies realize this problem and choose to make tubes and refill pouches with rounded corners !!
Just a small tiny idea that might make a difference :)

I so hope this will be the new standard form for packaging !!!
No more sharp pointy edges !!!

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