Review: Giving packaging a new life and How it’s made > Packaging

These short video clips explore the manufacturing process involved in recycling a material. It focuses on recycling existing resources that provide benefits to the environment by creating a more sustainable living and at the same time demonstrating the harm we do if we don’t.

 The videos demonstrate the possible recycled industrial materials with the advantages if done so. Such as recycling a material does more to sustain the existing resource and reduces the energy otherwise used in harvesting it raw. It is seen how products are easily produced through recycling that weren’t known such as cartons, cardboard boxes, bottles, pizza boxes, packaging tubes, toys (PET) etc. 

 Things that were learnt by watching these videos were that it was able to give an insight to many materials and how they are recycled very simply. It creates an awareness to understand the true meaning of trash equals treasure through recycling. Such as:

Paper/Cardboard boxes -An interesting point noted was that when producing new paper, 60% of it is already recycled paper. It was interesting to discover that cardboard and news print are solely made of recycled paper waste but most of all that toilet paper/tissues is 60 – 70% recycled. So the next time you go to the bathroom that’s something to think about?

Tetrapak - Not knowing the recycling capabilities of these packs were intriguing and informative, the packaging of juice, milk and sauces. It is done through the use of a pulpier and water to separate the layers which in turn get recycled. The paper form in cardboard/premium waste paper and the plastic and aluminium are used in the cement production.

 Tinplate – It was found that the magnetic component to separate tin was ingenious. Although it was intriguing to discover that tin makes up 40% of raw materials in the steel works which leads on to produce 15000 slabs making 9 billion new cans. At the sometime it can be recycled over and over again with no quality lost.

Aluminium (cans/tubes)-The most significant point in recycling aluminium is the energy saving component it has in recycling comparison and its 100% recyclability without deterioration. Such as producing sheets out of recycled aluminium saves 1/20 energy than mining it.

Glass (bottles)–Separating and separating…..it was an insight to the level of separation required, to the smallest degree to recycle and the tedious process to separate according to colour. Also knowing that glass can be endlessly recycled, using less energy than metal and plastic.

Plastic - bottles and jars - The most memorable quote stated about plastic was “properly separated is half recycled”. It’s shown how polystyrene is grounded and made into other polystyrene products, melted old films create new films and bottles are reprocessed into high grade granules. Although the disadvantage learnt is that reprocessing plastic may lose some of its physical properties.

 Other Industrial Designers should watch this video as it give you an insight into the significance of recycling and its possibilities to improving design and cost efficiency. It allows designers to see the benefit of aluminum recyclability as it doesn’t reduce in quality thus at the same time understanding its environmental saving as reducing the amount of energy required to process. Also the video demonstrates the process at which a particular design in made, this thus acting as a teaching aid on applying similar labeling techniques to designs can be adapted. It allows first hand to see how packaging materials can be manipulated thus the limitation to the physical properties plastic have. Understanding processing methods for each different material such as glass and how detail can be obtained rather that labeling. It gives an insight to how we design is what is making the landfills. Designers have to be vigilant regarding the environmental aspects to their design, understanding how to minimize the need to landfill and maximize recyclability and sustainability.

 3 most important messages

1. In understanding the physical properties of materials and their ability to be recycled allows for smarter design. Knowing that paper, glass and aluminum have that ability to be recycled over and over age without losing their physical properties is an advantage in terms of design and cost efficiency. Knowing this maximizes the materials resource capabilities and life. Thus allowing for more resourceful thinking rather than landfill.
2. Understanding the meaning of trash is treasure as such recycling add value to a company through the benefits of reusing materials and reducing cost on the environment as such the materials life cycle doesn’t end at landfill becoming something useful, functional as the  previous.
3. The process of recycling will reduce the harm on the environment.

To see these videos go to: http://www.youtube.com/user/dsdgpanl?feature=results_main and http://ides1031.blogspot.com.au/search/label/packaging