Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 2, 1993 TAG: 9305010144
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: C4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SHERYL A. BARNETT NEWSDAY
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Yesterday's gone, according to our president's favorite song, and instead of being icons of consumption, these labels are now a part of the greening of packaging.
Green packaging is a concept that crosses all the artificial barriers of commerce. Whether they make household cleansers, natural cosmetics or tools for better living, America's merchants and manufacturers are hewing to the same party line, doing every little thing to let us know that they are keen on beautifying the planet. They're proving they, too, want to reduce the nearly 200 million tons of solid waste we generate annually.
"We design for disassembly," said Phillip Federspiel of Group Four Design, whose clients range from Ingersoll Rand and Black & Decker to Hasbro and Fisher Price, Coca-Cola and Clairol. "Everything must be reused. Today's Cloudburst bottle must become tomorrow's garbage bag."
Consider the evidence:
Origins, the Estee Lauder subsidiary that markets natural-ingredient cosmetics, body and bath products, packages its wares in containers that invite customers to return bottles and jars to the store for recycling. "Once the line's concept was developed, we knew that the packaging had to be environmentally correct. So we only looked at materials that could be recycled," says Daria Myers, Origins vice president for marketing.
Sears Roebuck and Co. has eliminated all packaging from its hand tools; hammers, for example, now are displayed on peg-board racks. Last year Sears reduced the amount of cardboard it uses by 2.8 million pounds. And it's part of an overall Sears campaign that eventually will save the company more than $5 million a year, says Laurence E. Cudmore, president of the retail division. Also, appliance makers such as Kenmore, Sunbeam and Oster as well as lingerie, apparel and sock suppliers have joined Sears' anti-waste campaign. Since 1988, Sears stores have displayed bras and panties without stiffeners or wrappers, saving 450,000 pounds of paper, Cudmore says.
In Wal-Mart's new store in Lawrence, Kan., recycling bins are placed in strategic spots, inviting customers to remove paper packaging from purchases before leaving the store.
Converse, the footwear manufacturer, is packaging some of its high-tops in shoe boxes made of recycled materials; the boxes are designed to be used as decorative items.
Black & Decker, which makes power tools and small appliances, is downsizing its boxes to save corrugated cardboard, ditching polystyrene and redesigning some products to make use of streamlined, reusable packaging. More basically, a spokeswoman said, the company is using post-consumer recycled and recyclable materials so "our packaging will never need to clog up a landfill."
When fashion designer Giorgio Armani needed shopping bags, boxes and other packaging items for his new shop, A/X, the Armani Exchange, he commissioned Alexander Isley Design to create a collection of top-stitched shopping bags and boxes with pull-out "drawers" and handles made from clothesline rope that beg to become part of your closet's organization. All are made of 100-percent-recyclable materials, custom-milled to evoke the designer's commitment to elegant minimalism. That packaging was voted a Best of Category award by ID, the journal of international design, in its 38th annual Design Review last year.
When Warner Music re-released R.E.M.'s "Out Of Time" in limited edition, all the compact disc packaging, from liner notes to souvenir postcards, were made of recycled paper, foreshadowing the record industry's move to cut down on waste.
Despite these efforts, more than half of our solid waste ends up in landfills. Environmental Protection Agency figures show we recycle only 19 percent of all glass waste, 28.6 percent of paper and cardboard, and 2.2 percent of plastics.
Until recently, plastics got a bad rep because of the recyling problems caused by the use of multiple resins and the scarcity of uses for the recycled product. Now, a coding system introduced by the Society of the Plastics Industry lets sorters know exactly what such containers are made of.
All these innovations are proving useful to makers of household cleaners and personal-hygiene products. Here, manufacturers are bringing home some of the "greening" practices they've used in European markets with stiff environmental laws.
by CNB