design ideas pragmatic historian preservation product packaging

Can Desiccant Packets Be Reused?

In the further annals of product packaging, I’ve been flummoxed by another item that isn’t easily recyclable: Desiccant packets. These are the little silica packets found in vitamins and other supplements, in shoeboxes, and in any product that needs to stay dry within its packaging. I’m sure I’ve thrown away hundreds of these in my lifetime. I don’t remember when they became common within product packaging, but they seem to be in loads of stuff…

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art design history pragmatic historian preservation product packaging

Noodle Packaging & Preservation

Do you see what I see?     Both the front and back sides of these boxes of Great Value bowtie pasta and half-length angel hair pasta show pictures of the pasta. Yay! That means I know what I’m buying. What makes me more excited is what these boxes don’t have. They are lacking the plastic windows you find on most boxes of pasta. That makes these boxes easier to recycle because you don’t have…

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design history pragmatic historian product packaging

Scented Toilet Paper, Pastel Toilet Paper

Early on in the COVID-19 pandemic, when people were faced with a lockdown for several weeks, there was a run on toilet paper, paper towels, and facial tissue. Entire sections in stores where these were kept were empty. Strict limits were put on the number people could purchase at any given time. For months, there were gaps on the toilet paper shelves. Where there used to be several options for purchase, you were lucky if…

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design observations product packaging

Finally! Feminine Hygiene Products Become More Environmentally Friendly

While grocery shopping at Walmart recently, I found a significant change in the feminine hygiene products section. Can you spot a theme?         There is an entire section of environmentally-friendly feminine products … finally! Of course there were still plenty of the standard products made with all sorts of plastics, but I’ve never seen feminine hygiene products sold on the basis of significant portions of them being 100-percent organic cotton let alone…

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