Weekly Bitches: Packaging

Putting positivity in its place! But only for a minute. I promise.

To see what the Weekly Bitches are all about, look here. Otherwise, enjoy!

About a week ago, a shower curtain that I had ordered from Bed, Bath and Beyond arrived packaged in what appeared to be a former forest. From the size of the box itself to the paper filling, the wrapping was so excessive, I could only assume about a quarter of the species in the Amazon Basin were now searching for a new habitat on account of my most recent bathroom accessory. Ironically, the curtain I ordered had a giant tree on it which now serves as a daily reminder of all that gave their lives so that the very bendable plastic of my shower lining wasn’t cracked or shattered en route to my apartment. Honestly, there was about a twelve foot crinkled paper snake swerving through my kitchen after I was done sifting through it looking for the 8 inch X 8 inch product it was there to protect.

I mean, has the condition of our environment not gotten so out of hand that this should just be considered obscene by now? Has NO ONE from Bed, Bath and Beyond watched a documentary or read an article on climate change and the irreparable damage that destroying vast amounts of rain forests will do and is doing to the Earth? There are lyre birds in the jungle that can’t get laid now because their mating calls mimic the sounds of chainsaws and car alarms instead of harmonious tweets and love songs, all so I can have a material which is commonly used as protective packaging itself delivered to me in so much protective packaging you’d think I had ordered a nuclear warhead. Which I might as well have given the carbon footprint that my purchase has now left on the planet.

Solution:

Let’s start with Bed, Bath and Beyond maybe turning on the Discovery Channel once in their lifetime and educating themselves as to the damage they are doing with their incredibly irresponsible shipping practices. Perhaps sending something as insignificant as a shower curtain in an envelope like this would be a good start:

However, since the damage was already done, I took it upon myself to devise yet another solution to the packaging problem. I spent my entire afternoon folding it into this accordion style pile…

And then turned it into wrapping paper!

I would have liked to get more creative with these, maybe using colored markers to decorate them and tying around a fancy ribbon but I was late when I was heading out the door to deliver them so this is what my girlfriend got. But you can see the potential. I’m sure next time I’ll put a little more effort in since I have enough wrapping paper now to last me through the next six Christmases.

Until next week, cheers! And if you’d like to leave a bitch you can link it here below.

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An InLinkz Link-up

http://muchtomydelight.com/ Jenn from much to my delight

Seriously, I feel so guilty every time I shop online now because they wrap everything to death. Good for you for not letting the excess go to waste. I’m pretty big on wrapping stuff in brown paper myself. Excellent problem-solving skills there.
- http://www.therheeldaze.com/ RheelDaze
  
  Thanks Jenn! I too like the look of brown wrapping paper. I even have a ball of twine here that I use to make them look like they came from the Pony Express. If you have any birthdays or bar mitzvahs coming up, don’t be shy about taking some of this off my hands.
Awesomely Over-Zealous

Great job re-using that packaging Kelly! I feel awful too wasting ish, especially paper! I don’t think Bed Bath & Beyond received the memo – someone should let them know. Less is more folks – unless its a laptop or breakable there is no need for THAT much paper. Nice work Kelly! Happy Hump Day Girlie! -Iva
- http://www.therheeldaze.com/ RheelDaze
  
  Honestly, how is this happening with all we know in 2014? It’s insane. Thanks Iva!
http://hemborgwife.wordpress.com/ Bailie @ The Hemborg Wife

I also reuse the packing paper all the time. I use it to make posters of things I want to remember, wrapping paper, I have even made some mailing envelopes out of it!
http://thefearlessscribe.blogs

I re-use the packing materials and sometimes the boxes when I have a package to send out. My Uncle once ordered something online from Amazon for my son. The box it came in could have housed a small elephant. The product itself could fit inside a coat pocket. Ridiculous!
The Nicki Daniels Interview

Oh my god yes. Fucking packaging is out of control. You would think they were shipping human organs or fetuses or baby squirrels with all that loving paper bunting. Plastic packaging drives me crazy, too. I recently bought a thing of eye drops, in a teeny plastic bottle, which was double wrapped in plastic, sealed in a foil pouch, inside a paper box that was wrapped in more plastic.

What the fuck.
- http://www.therheeldaze.com/ RheelDaze
  
  Remember when CDs used to come in those giant cardboard cases before you got to the plastic casing underneath? I always thought that was out of control and that was like twenty years ago. Now that everyone is hellbent on saving the planet I can’t believe that something like an energy saving lightbulb is being delivered wrapped like like they were sending it into space. No wonder there’s a dump site the size of Texas floating around the Pacific. We can thank the boomers for all that shit.
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