Consumer Choices Can Reduce Packaging Waste: ABE328/AE226, 9/2002

Abstract

When all packaging is accounted for, it adds up to about one-third of all the trash that's thrown away in the United States. Industry and business are responsible for most of this waste, but consumer product packaging accounts for about 15 percent of what's discarded. When you purchase a frozen dinner, you are paying for not only the meal but for the outer paperboard box, the plastic or foil tray that holds the meal, and the covering over the food. You pay again for packaging, directly or indirectly, when your garbage is picked up and disposed of in a landfill or incinerator. Some communities are moving toward "pay-as-you-throw" fees for every bag put out at the curb, so it makes sense to reduce household waste. Composting, recycling, and reusing items all help. And by shopping carefully you can reduce excess packaging that you would throw away. This document is ABE328, one of a series of the Agricultural and Biological Engineering Department, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. First published September 2002. 

https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ae226