cardboard box. Inside, each of three bars is wrapped in plastic and covered 

 by tissue paper. As a consumer, I have been seduced by flashy, colorful 

 boxes, layers of plastic wraps and tinfoil coverings. But while these 

 packaging designs can be visually appealing on the shelves and even key 

 to product safety, I now try to see them in a different 

 light. I imagine them as ugly waste piling up 

 in the landfill within a matter of days. 

 These wrappings, so painstakingly 

 designed to protect or beautify a 

 product, comprise a third of the 

 waste buried in landfills nationally. 



In the workplace, companywide 

 policies or loose office-by-office 

 precycling can lighten the dumpster's 

 burden. It can be as easy as sending faxes without 

 cover sheets. Or it can be as elaborate as a new product design or 

 packaging policy. In Raleigh, a dry cleaning company accepts used 

 hangers from customers and donates a penny for each of them to the 

 Triangle Land Conservancy. I take my laundry there now. A major 

 computer manufacturer has redesigned its packaging to reduce waste. I 

 don't use this brand, but I'm convinced that package redesign is a good 

 idea after ordering a new computer last year. It took weeks to get rid of the 

 cardboard, foam and plastic leftovers. 



On the public-sector side, some local governments have cited double- 

 sided printing, ceramic mugs, refillable toner cartridges and scratch pads 

 made from the clean side of printed paper as examples of their source- 

 reduction efforts. The town of Pittsboro reuses computer sheets for 

 memos, buys chemicals for its wastewater treatment plant in bulk and 

 delivers packages by freight instead of express carriers to reduce packag- 

 ing waste. But even as precycling takes these steps forward, only 17 

 percent of the state's 620 local governments said they had in-house or 

 public-oriented source reduction programs in 1993-94. 



Precycling is still gathering a foothold in North Carolina, although it's 

 not an especially new concept, nor is it a local one. 

 It has global appeal, as I learned last year at the 

 International Conference on Marine Debris. 

 Slashing both the supply and demand of 

 wastes was repeatedly offered as a remedy 

 to the disposal woes of industrialized and 

 developing nations. It's the first step 

 toward heading off waste before it can 

 pollute our shores and waters. 



But waste management is a complex 

 issue. It is perhaps easier to ask people 

 not to litter than to ask them to change 

 their shopping habits and ways of doing 

 business. Increasingly, however, people 

 are making the effort and forward- 

 thinking companies are making it policy. 



Examples of overpackaging are at every turn. 

 Why do some plastic-contained deodorants 

 still need cardboard coverings? 

 Why are hairbrushes sold in plastic 

 and cardboard packages? 



In the workplace, companywide policies 

 or loose office-by-office precycling 

 can lighten the dumpster's burden. 

 It can be as easy as sending faxes 

 without cover sheets. 



Continued 



COASTWATCH 1 1 



