In just the past week, I have heard more students complain about packaging than I’ve heard in my lifetime. Sure, I get where they are coming from and why they find it such a hassle, but what people forget is that packaging is a luxury. It’s not something that should be taken for granted nor should it be overlooked, forgotten, or hated. In fact, packaging should qualify for an award as it has changed the world in so many ways — ways that most people don’t even realize.
Let me take a step back and get everyone up to speed on what I mean by this. Packaging, believe it or not, has been around almost forever. A bit shocking, right? So, let’s really think about it. Can you name something that doesn’t need packaging? Come on, just one thing. That’s all I’m asking.
Well, I’ve asked this question more than a dozen times (remember, I’m studying Packaging Science at the Rochester Institute of Technology) and only once have I received a really good answer that didn’t require packaging. But before I reveal that answer, let me share some of the good guesses I’ve heard.
Grass. Sorry! When you discover the snow, or winter snow plow, has killed off a patch of grass, the seed you buy in the spring will come in a sack, package or bag.
Tires. Ah, a tricky one. But how do they get the tires to the store. Do they just magically appear there? No, I’m pretty sure there was some form of packaging, or plastic wrap, used during transportation.
A heart. Well, one would be packaged upon transport to a special surgery or prior to a transplant. After all, it will need to be sterile and packaging can pull that feat off quite fine.
A body (perhaps my favorite guess). I always seem to have one audience member shout out this guess. They think they’re trying to be funny, but the answer is no laughing matter. Although a bit gruesome, body bags are a form of packaging as are caskets and coffins.
As you’re probably noticing, packaging comes in many shapes, sizes, and forms. Packaging isn’t just that annoying shrink-wrap that keeps spices sealed up tight and it surely isn’t limited to just cardboard boxes (we like to call it corrugated as it’s the proper technical term). Water bottles (both plastic and BPA free reusable), shopping bags, packaging peanuts, laptop cases — are all valid forms of packaging.
So, as of right now, there’s really only one thing that we can’t seem to package and it isn’t air (because balloons totally require that to work). The “thing” I’m talking about is gravity. I mean, how do you package something that isn’t tangible. It’s kind of just there. Natural phenomenons like this are one of the few things that don’t have packaging.
All in all, I want you to walk away remembering that packaging is crucial to our everyday lives. Yes, it can be a pain in the butt, like when you buy video games that come in that awkward packaging. Isn’t that stuff just horrid to open!? And, even though some packaging may not always be of the “greenest” of materials, once you cut, ripe, tear, open, or unfold, you truly appreciate the value of packaging as the end product is in place, secure, and usable — or at least it should be.
Packaging is no easy task and is forever changing. But, it has improved the quality of life, providing us with a whole slew of things ranging from nutrition to entertainment to mobility and so on. So, the next time you’re about to complain about a package, think about what packaging has done for you. Think what packaging has done for mankind.
Wavikz 