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?@?@?@?@Farewell to Wasteful Packaging
?@Plastic, Styrofoam and Saran wrap, oh my! When you go to the supermarket, do you regularly encounter products that are drowning in packaging? The excessive packaging that I witness everyday is appalling and heartbreaking. In Japan, the issue of global warming has grabbed headlines everywhere, but the trend of wasteful packaging continues.
?@Although we have gradually become accustomed to taking our reusable bags to the grocery store, we still haven't seen a strong shift towards reducing the packaging on the items we place inside that reusable bag. And all that plastic and cardboard add up to quite a lot of our carbon footprint. But how much of our carbon footprint? What kind of impact could we make on cutting back carbon if we cut back on packaging?
?@In 2009, the Environment Ministry of Japan announced that packaging consisted of 60% of the weight of household wastes. If we could halve this amount, collection fees would reduce by 40%. It would also lessen the amount of precious resources used in producing the material, transporting it and disposing it. Throughout its production, carbon dioxide emissions would decrease dramatically and the use of landfills would diminish.
?@Unfortunately, the exact number of carbon emissions for packaging is not available to the average person. Part of this has to do with poor measurement by manufactures or a lack of life cycle analysis that measures its carbon footprint. As the eco-saying goes, what gets measured gets managed. If companies aren't taking the time to measure more than the price point of their packaging, then the bigger picture and bigger long-term cost of that packaging is being missed.
?@Of course, it is easy to put all of the blame on manufacturers and argue that the decision lies with them. However, the reality is that consumers, manufacturers and the government all have to play their part in order to solve this problem.
?@Two years ago, the Japanese government piloted a national carbon footprint labeling system. Based on a government-approved calculation, they showed how much greenhouse gas contributing to global warming was emitted through production and delivery. This means that the numbers were added and labeled as one single digit. Though this was a radical and challenging scheme, the labels need to provide much more detailed breakdowns of carbon dioxide emission levels at every stage of production. For example, a bag of potato chips emits 75 grams of carbon dioxide, with packaging accounting for 15%. By specifing labels, consumers can fully understand the impact of their purchases. Therefore, I urgently propose that the Japanese government mandatorily require companies to label their carbon footprints under this uniform and transparent method.
?@Along with the government, companies must endorse this labeling system. This should be an opportunity for companies to compete with one another in lowering their carbon footprint. Companies taking the initiative to reduce over-the-top packaging would gain widespread support from consumers. After all, doesn't less packaging mean cheaper prices and emptier garbage bins?
?@All in all, we mustn't forget that consumers carry the final responsibility to choose adequately packaged products. While many of us say we want less packaging, we also want to keep it because it's more convenient, hygienic and visually attractive. Before we can fully expect manufactures to change, we need to have a shift in our own attitudes. In this area, the carbon footprint label can be used as a tool to guide us in making responsible decisions as consumers. One day, in the near future, I hope that checking the carbon footprint will come to us as naturally as checking the price tag.
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