January 30, 2012

1 Min Read
For the Love of Lightweighting

The other night I was preparing some rice (basmati, if you must know) for supper when a note on the back of the bag caught my eye. The rice was from Lundberg Family Farms, a brand I've long admired for its sustainable farming practices and, frankly, the tastiness of its product. Up until recently the bags were resealable. The note read, in part:

We've removed the re-closable zipper from our 2 pound bags to save about 15% of the material used to make the bag, which save 35,000 lbs. of plastic from landfills every year. This reduces our environmental footprint and saves precious resources for future generations.

The note went on to suggest alternate ways to keep the rice fresh in lieu of that plastic zipper. This simple notice really got me thinking about all of the ways in which lighweighting is helping to shrink the waste stream. Whether its moving from glass bottles to plastic or concentrating detergent so the package containing it shrinks, manufacturers are finding myriad ways to get their products to market with less packaging -- and should be encouraged to find more.

What are some ways in which you've observed the implementation of lightweighting?

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