Vitamins: Is the Bottle Half Empty, Half Full, Or Almost Entirely Empty and Totally Overpackaged?

Why are so many products almost empty when you open them?

A lot of times when I open a product, I am disappointed or disgusted, depending on how much empty space there is, that all of the plastic or whatever the product is packaged in is wasted on a product that is partially or almost completely empty.

Below are only two of many, many examples of products on the market with a very empty bottle and thus overpackaging. These are both vitamins that come in plastic bottles. Think of the plastic that could be saved if these were put into appropriately sized bottles. I think my husband’s theory that they are just trying to make the package bigger, so that it is spotted on the shelf might be accurate. Either that or they're trying to fool customers that there are more tablets than there are. Either way, it's an unnecessary waste of resources.

Naturopathic Labs Vitamin C
This bottle of vitamin C was a really big bottle, but had a lot of empty space. It was only about half full. What a ridiculous waste of plastic.

My whole finger fit all the way down into the bottle as it was half empty.

The vitamins only came about  halfway up the bottle to where my thumb is.

Equate Vitamin D 1000 IU
Equate is a house brand of Walmart and one would hope that they would be cost conscious of packaging, as they offer a lot of products below the price of brand names, but this bottle was almost complete empty. It was less than a quarter full, even worse than the one above. Outrageous overpackaging like this really annoys me. There is no reason for this kind of waste.

This bottle was less than one quarter full!

Where my thumb is is where the pills go up to in this bottle (the orange section)!!!

These two companies are by no means alone in the overpackaging world. All companies need to stop doing this. It creates unbelievable waste in a world where our resources are dwindling. And it doesn't make me feel happy when I find packages are this empty either. I just feel like never buying those brands again (unfortunately most vitamin manufacturers seem to do this). Reducing is always better than recycling, so let's stop creating unnecessarily large bottles that will just end up in the landfill or recycling plant sooner than you'd think.

Rhinaris: Overpackaging of Nasal Sprays Blows

This is much too much waste for a small nasal spray.

I have blogged before about wasteful packaging on nasal sprays (you can read my blog on NeilMed nasal spray here). For some reason, companies hawking nasal sprays feel the need to create an incredible amount of packaging for a very small item. Yes, it needs to be hygienic, but this could be accomplished with much less waste. My husband has the cynical, but perhaps accurate view that these companies increase packaging to make sure their product is seen on packed store shelves (click here to see my posts on other small over the counter items like Vitamin D drops for babies and probiotic drops for babies).

I opened up a box of Rhinaris nasal spray the other day and discovered a world of waste. There was a plastic bottle with a plastic cap, a separate plastic bag with the nozzle and cap in it, and there was the paper insert. After I assembled the nasal spray, I was left with lots of garbage and recycling, a plastic cap for the bottle that the nozzle ends up going into, a plastic bag from the nozzle, the plastic seal from around the top of the bottle, and the paper insert and cardboard box. Yes, some of it is recyclable, but really reducing would just be better for the world and its finite and precious resources.

Of course the box is too big.

All of this was in the box.

Everything to the left of the assembled nasal spray is waste or recycling.

Another overly large box. What a waste of cardboard.

Overpackaging like this makes me not want to buy a product, but it seems that all companies that produce nasal sprays seem to do this kind of overpackaging. Overpackaging of nasal sprays just blows.

Dole Organic Bananas: Putting Packaging on Bananas is Just Bananas

Even my baby knows that bananas have their own package; it’s called a peel. People who shout about organic produce being the best must feel chagrinned when they see products like Dole’s organic bananas. The bunch of these bananas that my husband bought the other day, had a giant strip of sticky tape as a label all the way around it, some plastic wrap  and what looked like masking tape or paper over the end of the bunch, and a plastic sticker! What a waste.

Anyone who says organic produce is better for the environment does not have this type of overpackaging in mind. A banana doesn’t need packaging. Dole’s overpackaging is just bananas.