Something has been (quietly) making be very frustrated recently – the environmental irresponsibility of designers and marketers.
Big businesses, particularly airlines and car manufacturers, are increasingly unable to escape scrutiny – not that this appears to significantly affect their behaviour. Rather than sorting one’s own problems out, it’s far easier, and cheaper to draw attention elsewhere – to a competitor or neighbouring industry (as illustrated by a Guardian article about the UK distribution of Hummer cars):
“It’s all debatable, but the dust-to-dusters argue that this vehicle could be more carbon efficient than the Toyota Prius, if you take the whole process from manufacture to final disposal into account.”
…And you ignore the fact that the car will actually, er, be driven you mean?
Still, the point of this post wasn’t to talk about big business. They are being scrutinised (for all the good it’s doing). No – what’s driving me insane is how mass market, non-essential products are being designed with scant regard for environmental science – and escaping scrutiny.
Two random examples that have wedged themselves in my consciousness recently (that I won’t attempt to link to because of their transient and disposable nature): Apetina Feta by Arla, and L’Oreal’s new anti-aging moisturiser for men (Men Expert Vitalift Double Moisturiser). Both appear to be marketing themselves on the deliberate use of (approximately) twice as much non-biodegradable plastic packaging as is actually necessary.
Let’s take the Feta – the print marketing is differentiating the product exclusively on the fact that inside the plastic tub, is another plastic tub – with holes! Great – now the consumer need not bother with that multi-purpose and re-usable tool – the slotted spoon. Instead, they can now deposit in a land fill, twice as much packaging when preparing their greek salads.
As for the L’Oreal packaging the separation of the moisturiser and anti-aging components within the dispenser serve the purpose of reducing the amount of product in the container whilst increasing the amount of packaging – wasteful yes, but profitable also (I imagine). It’s as if stripey toothpaste were never invented.
With enough change at the everyday, impactable level, we all have the potential to make a huge impact – designers should be playing their part (as should consumers with the their choice of products and lifestyle).
On a related tangent – Emily Thornberry, MP for Islington South and Finsbury illustrated in her Guardian article about cycling to work, that enough of us effecting a small, effective change in our habits could make a big impact:
‘…in the UK, we still have a long way to go. Just 3% of commuters here cycle, with around 4 million people still driving less than three miles to work – a 20-minute bike ride each way. If all of these people swapped their cars for bikes it would save around 1m tonnes of CO2 a year.’
To end on a positive note, Tesco do increasingly seem to be acting on customer demand and moving towards an environmentally friendlier practice. They will now deliver your shopping without carrier bags (allowing you to unload directly from reusable crates on your doorstep). And, increasingly, the packaging used for veg is compostable and bio-degradable.
Small steps yes, but if we all took them?
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