Pomelos: Fruit in a Package Doesn’t Need Packaging

A fruit with a package (a thick peel) next to all of this unnecessary packaging,  a plastic bag, shrink wrap, a plastic ribbon.

I have blogged about packaging on fruit before (Dole bananas- see link here and pomelos more than once- see link here and link here), but I feel compelled to do it again. Some fruit probably needs some kind of packaging (example berries would fall all over the place if they didn’t have some kind of a little box), but fruit with its own package like bananas and citrus fruit, like pomelos, definitely does not need a package.

For some reason, pomelos seem to get ornate packaging every now and then (other times there is no packaging and this is great). I’m not sure if this packaging is because they are sometimes given as a gift, but they really don’t need all of this packaging.

The pomelo that my husband came home with from the grocery store the other day was incredibly overpackaged. It was housed in a plastic bag, a plastic ribbon, and plastic shrink wrap too. This is ridiculous since pomelos have a very thick peel (they taste like a mild, slightly sweeter grapefruit).

The pomelos were being sold in the grocery store like this.

"We use high-quality raw material for our goods. This is the best gifts for best Friends." That's what it said on the plastic bag that the pomelo came in.

A fruit with a package next to a plastic bag, plastic shrink wrap, and a plastic ribbon.

A peel of a pomelo can compost, but all of this garbage cannot and it’s totally unnecessary. I wish packaging of packaged fruit would just cease. Producing more stuff for landfills will make finding places to grow fruits and vegetables even more difficult. Overpackaging of organics is odious.

Sephora: Overpackaging Like This Won’t Make For a Beautiful World

Another Sephora order, another box that's too large . . .

I've blogged about Sephora's packaging (and the packaging of the brands that they carry) before (you can find some of my blog posts here and here and here and here and here and here and here.). Sephora sometimes gets their packaging just right. Unfortunately, though, when I shop online, I often receive an overpackaged package. The problem seems to originate from the fact that Sephora insists on using cardboard boxes (with a strip of bubble wrap in the bottom) and never bubble envelopes (at least in my experience), so there will often be a lot of room in the box (for instance if one only orders one small item and this can happen a lot either if the item is high value so as to grant free shipping or if the person has VIB Rouge status which entitles the holder to free shipping on everything).

The other packaging problem that Sephora seems to have is that they carry a lot of items that have lots and lots of packaging. If a company like Sephora could influence the brands that it carries to use less packaging (for instance putting a safety seal around a lipstick, face mask, face cream, or mascara instead of using a box) then the amount of waste surrounding cosmetics and skincare would significantly decrease since Sephora is a big company with many customers.

I received this order in December (I'm just getting around to this now, since I've been busy with my baby!). I only ordered a lip gloss from Bite Beauty and a small jar of face mask from GlamGlow. Everything else below is either 100 point bonuses (in the Beauty Insider program at Sephora, each purchase gives the member points that they can then put towards deluxe samples), free samples with order (normally three with each order, but sometimes they go up to five), or the "free" makeup bag packed with samples that came with this order.

A special mention to GlamGlow for their excellent packaging of the face mask that I ordered. It had a safety seal around the small plastic jar which was filled to the brim with product. No wasting of materials here and it was fully recyclable.

Lots of packing paper as usual.

This box is definitely too big for the order.

GlamGlow is a great example of minimal packaging. Only a safety seal on this small size face mask and fully recyclable jar.

Why put a little lip gloss in such a big box? Why not use a safety seal like the face mask above?

There's nothing pretty about this wasted space or cardboard.

This lip gloss does not need any box, let alone such a big one.

This 100 point bonus bronzer had ridiculous packaging for a sample sized product.

Why make the box this thick and waste all this space?

This 100 point bonus lipstick came in a box. It is a sample size. Why not put a safety seal on it?

This 100 point bonus lipstick came in a box. It is a sample size. Why not put a safety seal on it?

Two out of three samples with the order had minimal packaging, the third, on the right, way too much.

The order came with a "free" makeup bag with samples in it. For some reason the bag was in a bag.

A bag in a bag with tissue paper too. Talk about overpackaging.

All of these samples came in the "free" cosmetics bag. Some had surplus packaging of their own.

I think that Sephora has a real chance to lead by example with their own packaging and working with the brands that they carry to create less waste and packaging or perhaps by making it easier to recycle packaging for cosmetics and skincare (mixed materials create problems, for instance in compacts that have plastic, metal, and glass or mascara that has perhaps rubber, plastic, metal, and/or bristles). While the cardboard boxes are recyclable, reducing is better than recycling. Overpackaging is never pretty (although some people on the Sephora website will disagree with me, because items that have more spartan packaging are sometimes called ugly or not pretty enough in the reviews).

Chatters Salon: Hair-raising Overpackaging

These bottles of shampoo and conditioner may be big, but they don't need a box this big.

During Chatters Salon's Boxing Day sale, I bought a large bottle of AG Hair Shampoo and one of AG Hair Conditioner. I bought them from Chatters Salon online. I buy big bottles of shampoo and conditioner, so that I won’t have to buy anymore for a long time, which conserves on packaging in the products and the packaging associated with shipping plus the impact of shipping itself. 

Unfortunately, when my purchase showed up in early January, the two large bottles were housed in an absolutely gigantic cardboard box. I have no idea why Chatters used such a huge box, but it was ridiculously over-sized and filled with packaging materials. 

The big box was full of plastic bubble packing materials.

The box was way, way too big even for 1 litre bottles.

My big bottles look positively miniature next to this gigantic box.

Using a smaller box would not only save on packing materials and cardboard, but it would probably also save Chatters shipping costs. Next time, I hope that Chatters uses a smaller box and avoids such hair-raising overpackaging.

Update:
The social media representative for Chatters Salon contacted me Friday night via Twitter:

"Interesting read. Thanks for your feedback and will share your thoughts with our shipping department. Have a great weekend."

I appreciate this swift response by Chatters Salon and the indication that something might be done to improve their packaging in the future.

Vileda Bee Mop Classic Sponge Roller Mop- If You Don’t Want a Disposable Mop Don’t Buy This One

I bought one of these Vileda Bee mops at Walmart when I was preparing to move out of my last place. I used it twice and the sponge part started to fall off of the metal that anchors it to the mop. It was separating at the sides. It was useless. I was very annoyed that it only lasted two uses and I figured that it must be defective. So, I took it back to Walmart and exchanged it for a new Vileda Bee mop.

I used the new Vileda Bee mop once and then when I got it out to use it the second time, I noticed that the sponge was separating off of the metal anchor again. It was almost impossible to use with the sponge head wobbling and not making proper contact with the floor. It was infuriating. After the second use, the sponge had almost completely separated off of the metal and it can no longer be used.

The sponge started separating off the metal head of my second Vileda mop after only one use, this is after two uses.

The sponge itself on the part that touches the floor is in great shape because I've only used it twice, but it's unusable due to the sponge separating off of the metal at the back.

Two uses and this mop is garbage. What a disappointment.

Now I have an infant and I can’t just go waltzing off to Walmart every second mopping to exchange my Vileda Bee mop for a new one. So, I’m stuck with an unusable mop and have to buy a new mop (definitely a different brand) off of Amazon or some place that can deliver to my house.

I wondered if this bad mop experience was just me, so I went onto the Walmart Canada website and looked at the reviews for this mop. The average review score has to be one of the lowest I’ve ever seen on Walmart, 1.8 stars out of 5. Wow that’s bad. I just can’t believe that Vileda would continue to produce these pieces of garbage. Clearly, it’s not just my two mops that were pure junk, as so many people are experiencing the same issue that I am with the sponge head separating from the metal and becoming unusable after one or two uses. According to some reviewers and some older people that I know, these used to be good and durable mops so I don’t know what exactly went wrong, but Vileda needs to get it together and stop producing mops that will end up in the landfill almost immediately. There is no way to recycle these junk mops, so they’re just a pile of garbage and a big waste.

Update March 21, 2018

I filled in a customer contact form on the Vileda website a few weeks ago. Eventually, a representative from Vileda emailed me and asked me to provide a receipt and pictures of the defective bee mop head. I told them that I would have to dig for the receipt and I was annoyed that I had already had to waste this much time (for a second time as my first bee mop failed as well). I sent them pictures. They claimed that my warranty had expired (how could they tell this without a receipt?) and that this was not a normal problem for bee mops (are they ignoring all the reviews out there online of their bee mop?!). Nevertheless, they said they would send me coupons that should be enough to purchase a refill head for the bee mop (they said on average they were $9.00 in Canada). They actually did send me the coupons ($5 and two $2) and I bought a refill for the bee mop (it was well within price range at Canadian Tire). I appreciate that Vileda was willing to let me try their product again and that they will at least stand behind their products to some degree. I have yet to test the new mop head, but I’m not optimistic that the third time will be the charm.

Cookies with Kooky Packaging

I previously wrote a post about Oreo Cookies because they had not only a plastic outer package, but also a plastic tray and cardboard inside (you can find the post here). Since then, I’ve noticed Oreos in the store in a much smaller package, so it seems they’ve changed packaging and I applaud Nabisco and Mondelez for that. Unfortunately, the world of cookies with plastic trays in addition to outer packaging is still well populated.

Here are two types of cookies I’ve discovered recently and they both have boxes, plastic wrap, and plastic trays (and not as many cookies in the box as one would think from looking at the box on the shelf!).

LeClerc Celebration Milk Chocolate Butter Cookies
By the time I took these photos, we had eaten almost all of the cookies, but I can tell you that each of the six sections of the plastic tray that are different shapes for some reason (the cookies are all the same rectangular shape) holds three cookies exactly. That means a box has precisely 18 cookies. This seems like a surprisingly small amount for the size of the box and the tray. The cookies are not that large or thick. They’re really good cookies, kind of like a digestive or butter cookie covered in a layer of really good chocolate. But I am disappointed in the packaging. After finishing the cookies, we were left with plastic wrap, a plastic tray, and a cardboard box. The plastic tray and cardboard box are easy to recycle, but one must remember that reducing is better than recycling. It takes energy and resources to recycle. It’s better to just not produce all this unnecessary packaging. There has to be a better way to package these fine cookies.

From the box, one would hope for more than 18 cookies. Who knows what 240 grams means.

This is two cookies sitting in the tray (there are normally three in each of the six sections. The packaging seems like overkill.

I can't understand the different shapes in the tray either. All the cookies look like the this.

So much waste left after the 18 cookies are gone.

Dare Coconut Whippet Sticks
These cookies are interesting. They are like a tiny log of biscuit, a pile of coconut on top, and then a nice covering of good chocolate. They taste rather like mini Bounty chocolate bars. The packaging for these is even more wasteful than the cookies above. These are tiny little logs of chocolaty coconutty goodness, but they only put two into each section of this big plastic tray. The tray is wrapped in plastic. And they are in a larger than needed cardboard box. There are ten cookie retaining areas on the overly large tray, which means that exactly 20 little sticks come in each box. If one just threw these little sticks into a box without the tray, the box would be mostly empty. I’m sure there’s a better way to package these nice little coconut sticks without using so many materials. As above, I could recycle the plastic tray and cardboard box (but not the plastic wrap), but it would be better if unnecessary packaging was eliminated. Recycling takes a lot of energy and resources as well as producing these throwaway materials in the first place.

Spoiler, the cookies are not this big and 250 grams means you get just 20.

Cardboard, plastic wrap, and plastic tray make up the packaging for these little cookies.

Each plastic tray section holds exactly two of these little sticks. There are ten sections in this big plastic tray.

20 tiny sticks and you're left with all of this waste.

In conclusion, I enjoyed both of these types of cookies, but I really dislike how they are packaged. I hope that LeClerc and Dare will reconsider how they package these cookies and make the packaging less voluminous and wasteful. I want to eat cookies without feeling guilty about how much waste I'm creating for the landfill and the recycling depot. Ending overpackaging of cookies would make them all the more sweet.

Sephora: Why Do Cosmetics and Skincare Companies Insist on Overpackaging?

When excess packaging is removed, this Sephora box looks way too large.

I ordered from Sephora a few days ago and received my package promptly. The box was a bit overly large, though not as bad as some other orders I have received. There was a lot of packing paper on top of the items ordered and then some bubble wrap under the items. 

Not that big of a box.

What struck me the most about this order though, was the amount that cosmetics and skincare companies continue to overpackage their products. I’m not sure if this is just to attract attention on overcrowded shelves (I have even seen people complain online that packaging on a particular cosmetics item wasn’t “pretty” enough) or if it’s to justify their high prices, but it really should be dialed back. Most of the products that have a ton of packaging don’t actually need it (ie. they’re not breakable, etc.).

For instance, I ordered a Boscia facial cleansing sponge. The sponge is quite small, about three inches in diameter and maybe an inch or slightly higher in height. However, the package that it came in was far, far bigger and made of hard plastic. The sponge wasn’t breakable and it was already wrapped in shrink-wrap too, so all of this plastic packaging seems very wasteful and unnecessary. Yes, it’s recyclable, but it’s a waste, so it should not exist in the first place (and the instructions printed on the plastic could have been printed on a little slip of paper to go with a shrink-wrapped sponge).

A big plastic package for a tiny sponge.

This package is ridiculously large and unnecessary since the sponge is already wrapped in plastic.

Redundant plastic.

I also ordered some Bite Beauty lipsticks that were on sale. I had forgotten the packaging that this lipstick came in as I had not bought one in quite a while. I opened the box thinking that I had received the wrong lipstick because the size and shape of the box were so different than my lipstick. But it was my lipstick. It was in a box at least two times bigger than necessary. I have blogged more than once about how I think that items like mascara and lipstick should just have a safety seal or maybe shrink-wrap around them and no box to reduce packaging. I stand by this.

Three lipsticks, three unnecessary boxes.

When one opens a box one finds the lipstick and then tons of empty space and a cardboard spacer.

The box is way bigger than the lipstick tube.

What a waste of cardboard.

Then there’s the matter of samples. With each Sephora order one receives three samples. But I also received a gift bag packed with a ton of other samples as a bonus. Plus, I ordered a 100 point sample of hair detangler (this was just in a bottle with no unnecessary box). The samples were all sparely packaged except for the Bumble & Bumble Hairdresser’s Invisible Oil, which had a glass and plastic vial and then a folded cardboard jacket which I thought overly large.

The Bumble & Bumble sample had too much packaging.

That's a huge jacket of cardboard for such a small vial.

I have talked before on this blog about “free” makeup or cosmetics bags and samples (you can find the links here and here and here and here and here). Many women (and some men too) end up with way too many free makeup or cosmetics bags from buying cosmetics and/or skincare products over the years and receiving these as a bonus or “free” item (really these are probably built into the price of the products sold by the company). A lot of these bags probably end up as garbage or collecting dust. I have also seen a lot in thrift shops. Even with giving away these bags or repurposing or reusing them for other things like packing (see my blog post) I still have way more than I ever needed.

Naturally, the cosmetics bag comes wrapped in a plastic bag and tissue paper. That makes sense!

Garbage before one even makes it to the cosmetics bag.

The tiny samples definitely don't need such a large package.

All the samples around the cosmetics bag that they came in.

The other samples added to the bonus samples and the 100 point sample show just how many things I didn't pay for in this order and how much more garbage and recycling there will be out of this order in the end.

A special mention goes out to Bumble & Bumble for not placing their hair product, Don’t Blow It, that I ordered in a box and just having it in its tube. A facial oil I ordered came in a box, but as it’s a glass bottle, this is acceptable because of the risk of it breaking in shipping.

Excellent packaging. No excess box.

When I removed all of the unnecessary packaging from the products that I ordered and put them back in the box from Sephora, there was so much more empty space. What a waste. If we keep heading in this direction, we’re going to be left drowning in a huge pile of recycling, without the resources to process it.

These are all empty packages and the paper and plastic and cardboard from just this one Sephora order before I've even used anything. So, after I use up things there will be even more waste.

A much smaller box or bubble mailer envelope could have been used for this tiny amount of stuff if packaging had been less to begin with.

Let's reduce packaging.