I’ve written about this issue before and back then Neil posted some links in the comments to some packaging stories that far outdo mine, but that doesn’t mean this excessive packaging should be tolerated.

If you ignore the environmental issues with such excessive packaging, it’s still a major annoyance both to get the package home and to dispose of the large amounts of crap afterwards. I don’t pay them to send me garbage. I sent them an email complaining about it, attaching the picture you see below, letting them know I won’t be shopping with them again until they do something about this issue. I don’t give a rat’s ass that they use pre-defined box sizes, if the largest webshop in norway doesn’t have a box closer to the size of a keyboard than this, I’m scared to see what happens if I order a flashdrive from them.

I recently bought a new electric shaver which came from a Norwegian webshop called Clas Ohlson. When it arrived, the inner box was less than half the outer box and strapped in with plastic. Not as bad as some examples around the net with similar boxes for tiny memory cards, but still not acceptable.

A worse example that I unfortunately don’t have a picture of was the Casio EX-S880 camera I bought a couple of months ago that came in an ever bigger box than the shaver and where the actually product box was bigger. I estimate the ratio was about 10:1. The rest of the box was filled with those air filled plastic bubbles (not bubble wrap, the large ones) – about 2-3 meter of it in length. I picked up that box cycling home from work, thinking it wouldn’t be that big a box considering the actual camera is 17mm thick. Getting that home on a bike wasn’t the easiest thing.

Then there’s food and candy which is often wrapped in several layers. An example is the fruit caramels I bought today, where each caramel is individually wrapped, then wrapped into larger boxes by flavor then five of those are wrapped together. While some candy do require individual wrapping, the flavor wrapping is purely for aesthetic reasons and should be dropped.

We need more packaging related innovation and we need it quick. Take the Greenbox for instance, there you have a pizza box that breaks off into individual cardboard plates and leaves a smaller box for storage. It’s the same amount of materials, but would eliminate cardboard plates and thigns like that which you might use. How great wouldn’t it be if they managed to do this with other products? Like those yoghurt cups that come with plastic spoons, I’m sure someone would be able to created a solution where part of the cup becomes the spoon.

Amazon is also trying to do something about the bad reputation they’ve gotten over excessive packaging with the Amazon Frustration-Free Packaging. Basically they have deals with certain manufacturers to offer Amazon-specific packaging where the shipping box is the product box. Great idea!

I think someone should make a law against this excessive packaging trend that’s going on, both for the sake of the planet and the consumer who have to deal with the boxes afterwards. I for one would love to buy a product with no user manual (in 20 different languages), no warranty papers and no excessive cardboard. Apple seem to have gotten their point with their awesome plastic boxes that the iPods come in. Sure, plastic isn’t enviromentally friendly either, but you get a more sturdy packaging in less space which saves shelf space, transport space and the box is so small and good looking you actually end up keeping it instead of throwing it away.