Adventures in packaging

REI has been a trailblazer on the packaging redesign front.  The company has long stopped using clamshell packaging that is not only annoying to open, but uses way too much PVC compared to the size of the products that it is encasing.  Steps like eliminating clamshell packaging are behind the firm’s goal to reduce its REI-branded packaging by 25% in 2013.

Eric Abraham, REI’s packaging engineering manager, drives much of REI’s packaging innovation.  Some of his successes are in the numbers:  instead of a token 10 percent of post-consumer content in paper packaging, Abraham is pushing for materials that are 100 percent recyclable and sourced from Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified materials.  Those same recycled paper materials now end up in the product hangtags (pictured above), which are then attached to garments and other products with fasteners made from recycled polypropylene (from old hangars) instead of ones made from virgin plastic.  One reason why packaging is often wasteful is the little things:  twist ties, zip ties, polybags, and tape, are find their way out of REI’s packaging.