Death to the Clamshell!

I was just pointed to this blog post by Martin Bishop of Landor Associatesannouncing Amazon’s recent decision to work with its manufacturers to eliminate the demonic plastic clamshell and annoying wire ties package so many of the products that we buy consistently. Sony, Microsoft, and Best Buy are also in on the effort.

There’s apparently a term for this - “Wrap Rage.” You’ve likely experienced it - I know I have. It’s the visceral anger that comes from getting a product home from a retailer and attempting to open it; usually with a variety of tools, and quite often with casualties involved. In fact, according to a New York Times article referenced in Bishop’s post, 6,000 people each year have to go to the emergency room because of cuts received from trying to open clamshell packaging.

To me, aside from the personal injury aspect of the clamshell, there’s a fundamental waste issue. If you look at a clamshell, it’s almost like a plastic sculpture - huge amounts of plastic are wasted for something as small as a SIM Card or USB Key, and on top of that you have the cardboard used to create the marketing piece associated with the packaging - not to mention the extra cardboard and paper used to hide things like A/C adapters and user instructions. How can manufacturers reconcile their increasing desire to be viewed as “green” companies when they’re putting this much material into packaging small objects?