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.

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).

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.