Ever had a soap wrapped in paper that you could use as soap? A package of garbage bag that is packaged in a bag itself that you could use?
Every year, we throw away 70 million tons of packaging. It is the largest component of what is in our landfills. Each year this is increasing. The Disappearing Package is a Masters Thesis Project by Pratt Institute student Aaron Mickelson that explores how packaging could be not just reduced, but eliminated entirely.
One of the products is a “Tide POD.” This product/package is a sheet of laundry pods stitched together, printed using soap-soluble ink. The POD plastic is, just like in the existing product, water-soluble. Consumers tear off each POD and use one-by-one. With the last POD, the package itself is gone.
Another of his design is the OXO POP Containers, which have the product and marketing details screen-printed directly on to the surface of the container with soap-soluble inks. To get rid of them, the consumer the washes food containers before using and also wipes away the “package.” Currently information is printed on a glossy paper slip held inside the container that is thrown away. This package design gets rid of this extra material while still providing information on the item.
Michelson created a total of five packaging solutions that reducing packaging waste. The goal is to start a conversation about packaging, and you can check out all of the designs on the project website, and comment or write to him on the site.
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http://disappearingpackage.com
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