Blog 2

In the ten steps to zero waste, step nine is better industrial design. This is important because no matter how much we as individuals try to reduce our impact on the world, the current industrial process is too toxic and destructive to continue using. One aspect of better industrial design that Connett mentions is redesigning products and their packaging to be more sustainable. Some of the other readings and videos have mentioned this idea in some manner, so I have been thinking about some of the innovative ways to do such redesigning. I remembered seeing an article (Yellowtrace) about a company devoted to producing new, sustainable forms of packaging, especially for food. The company, Tomorrow Machine, works to produce these products with both eco-friendly material and design. They say, “It’s a matter of reducing all elements that are unnecessary, not only for aesthetic reasons, but for sustainability reasons, we think that every component and detail that goes into packaging or product should be absolutely motivated by the function, so we don’t add elements for aesthetic reasons only.” Their product that specifically came to mind when I recalled the article was a container for olive oil made out of sugar and wax that could dissolve in water after you crack it and pour out the oil.

A separate article (Design News) that I found as I was trying to find the Yellowtrace article again provided more information on Tomorrow Machine and noted specifically that the intent of this kind of food packaging was to come entirely from natural materials and have a life span as short as the food inside (rather than the months or year plastic and other forms of packaging can have). Additionally, I thought this article made an important note about what it means for packaging to be “biodegradable” or “sustainable.” The difference between these two, according to the article, is that biodegradable packaging can return easily to the earth whereas sustainable packaging doesn’t cost the earth anything to begin with. In this sense, despite its usefulness sustainability is far more important and impactful than biodegradability. The sustainable sugar packages for oil, for example, would not incorporate any of the chemicals or processing that even biodegradable plastic requires, and thus they would be a better option for zero waste. This is a significant distinction to me because highlights again (just as the other readings have done) the necessary shift in thinking from emphasizing how to get rid of waste in the most eco-friendly manner (ex. creating a plastic that can compost easily) to emphasizing how to reduce this waste in the first place (ex. creating a natural container that doesn’t have to be disposed of at all).