Less Packaging saves costs and the environment

Another link to the story about Wal-Mart that I just couldn't pass up.

As a graphic designer, I've designed product packaging. I know the marketing stresses of size, advertising space, fancy coatings and full color. I cringe everytime I see 3 layers of packaging on a product, and I often refuse to buy that product.

It's good to see that companies are recognizing innovative ways to cut packaging down to size. One product category is "cleansers". With all the fluff being added into cleaning products, its good to recognize those companies that are decreasing their product's impact on the environment.


Packaging is another thorny issue. On my grocer's shelf are a bulky, 100-fluid-ounce, orange plastic jug of Procter & Gamble's bestselling Tide and a slim 32-ounce aqua plastic bottle of Unilever's "small and mighty" All.

Both contain enough detergent for 32 loads of wash, but the smaller package, made possible by condensing All, saves energy, shipping costs, and shelf space - a big win all around, right?

Not quite. Bigger packages command more shelf space, provide more surface area for advertising, and suggest to consumers that they're getting more for their money. Unilever executives voiced all those worries when they went to see Scott. He agreed to make "small and mighty" All a VPI (that's Wal-Mart code for "volume-producing item," and it means that Wal-Mart will promote it heavily). "That helps to increase their confidence," he says. You can now find "small and mighty" All in supermarkets everywhere.

And guess what? This fall Procter & Gamble will replace the bulky plastic jugs with condensed, slimmed-down versions of all its liquid laundry detergents - Tide, Cheer, Gain, Era, and Dreft - in a test in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to prepare for a likely national rollout.

We wondered if Wal-Mart had anything to do with that. "We've been doing sustainability for quite some time," replied a P&G spokeswoman. "And we're pleased to work with all our distributors, including Wal-Mart." You figure it out.