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Searching for Solutions to an Overpackaged World
Sierra Club Books
June 2005
On Sale: May 31, 2005
168 pages
ISBN: 1578051177
EAN: 9781578051175
Paperback
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Non-Fiction
The deceptively simple supermarket choice echoed in the
title symbolizes the dilemma of a society on a collision
course with the planet's life-support systems. Do we
clearcut forests, process pulp, and bleach it with chlorine
to make paper bags? Or do we make a pact with demon
hydrocarbon, refining ancient sunlight into handy plastics?
About half the total volume of America's municipal solid
waste is packaging--at least 300 pounds per person each
year--and the "upstream" costs in energy and resources used
to make packaging are even more alarming.
In this
fascinating look at the world of packaging, writer Daniel
Imhoff and photographer/designer Roberto Carra give
consumers, product designers, and policymakers the
information we need to take steps toward a more sustainable
future. They delve into the histories and life cycles of
packaging materials and look at the countless ways that
packaged goods shape our culture. Using case studies, they
explore the positive trends that are changing packaging,
including producer responsibility and "take-back" laws being
enacted in Europe; the eco-design movement; plant-based
plastics; labeling to disclose the ecological and social
impacts of products; and producing and consuming locally and
in bulk versus the wasteful global exchange of
single-serving containers. Carra's remarkable color
photographs illustrate both the important functions of
packaging and its many unintended consequences around the
globe.
Despite recent advances, the packaging problem
keeps growing, Imhoff warns. Real solutions must incorporate
new (or rediscovered) ways of producing, distributing,
packaging, consuming, reusing, and reprocessing products and
materials. As consumers, there's much we can do, and
Paper or Plastic offers a checklist for consumer
action, along with resources for information on products,
programs, and policy options. It's one book that is truly
worth the recycled paper it's printed on.
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