I find great joy and happiness in having a shower, it is relaxing, it is refreshing, especially with the heat and humidity here in Malaysia.
I also find that being relaxed, allowing the shower water wash away the unwanted feelings and thoughts I may have built-up during the day, I have time to reflect and allow my mind to wonder, a time for new ideas.
This morning, after waking in a hot and humid bedroom, I eagerly sought my first shower of the day, and standing there, the lukewarm water washing down from the top of my head to the tips of my toes, for some reason my mind went into thoughts about the rubbish we throw away. How my brother-in-law saves tin and aluminium cans to be recycled, and how as I have purchased breakfast cereal, lightbulbs, glue, screws, etc, how all these purchases had been wrapped in cardboard packaging, and how I had carefully folded down the boxes into flat pieces, and placed them into a plastic bag, just incase the garbage collectors recycle.
I then realised how much rubbish we accumulate just in packaging, and I had an internal voice shouting at me, “I don’t believe it“. We waste so much.
On finishing my shower, and drying myself off in a nice fluffy bath towel, my eyes caught the now empty toothpaste tube and the new boxed tube waiting to be unpacked. My thoughts went on to imagine the box packaging flat adding to the pile of other unwanted cardboard. I thought, “why do they use packaging?”, obviously for looks, presentation and also stacking on the shelves and distribution from the factory and the shops.
I opened the box and that internal voice again went off, “I don’t believe it“, the tube of toothpaste was very much smaller than the box indicated, I had not been given the amount of toothpaste in the tube as I thought I had purchased.
Looking at the tube, it was far shorter than the box. Not only was the tube much shorter than the box, but if you take into consideration the flip cap and the closer at the base of the tube, then the actual toothpaste only takes-up 2/3 of the outer box packaging.
Then if you look at the shape of the tube which tapers off at the base, there is a lot of space empty in the outer box.
In a previous career, a position where I helped set-up and run a computer ordering system for a cosmetic company, Fashions by Opus, I got that inner “I don’t believe it” voice when I saw in the warehouse the packaging for the cleansing cream, the eye and lip makeup tubs and jars, realising just how little product the consumer was actually getting compared to the packaging indicated. Within the outer plastic/glass tub or jar was placed an inner sleeve which tapered inwards towards the base.
Looking on the dressing table there were many jars which were large, but on examination, the inner contained much smaller quantities product than the packaging indicated.
“I don’t believe it” how we humans are being taken in by oversized packaging, packaging which is just waste.
See other examples of not enough product to the packaging, click.