The way we live has changed. Our society has evolved from rural to urban and from agricultural to industrial. The marketplace has also changed. Half of our cities' solid waste by volume and one-third of our waste by weight is made up of packaging. That is the question.
Packaging has many benefits.
It protects products from damage and dirt, keeps them fresh, gives us information about them and make them easier to carry and more convenient to use. That's the good news. The bad news is that packaging also causes problems. Most consumer product packaging is designed to be used only once until the product has been opened or consumed and then the package is thrown away. Packaging is inexpensive compared to the product, but it isn't free.