1. changes witnessed over the last few years on mode of packaging and its economic impact:- a) the changes in transportation of fruits and vegetables such as cardboard crates being used in place of wooden crates, etc. reasons for above changes.b) milk being supplied in glass bottles, later in plastic bags and now in tetra pack and through vending machines.c) plastic furniture [doors and stools] gaining preference over wooden furniture.d) the origin of cardboard and the various stages of changes and growth.e) brown paper bags packing to recycled paper bags to plastic bags and cloth bags.f) re use of packaging [bottles, jars and tins] to attract customers for their products.g) the concept of pyramid packaging for milk.h) cost being borne by the consumer/manufacturer.i) packaging used as means of advertisements.
Answers
Dear student, I’m going to elaborate your points in the same order as you put them one by one.
Changes witnessed over the last few years on mode of packaging and its economic impact:-
a) The changes in transportation of fruits and vegetables such as cardboard crates being used in place of wooden crates, etc. The main reason for all above changes in mode of transportation is a zeal & quest of manufactures to provide the products in most safe & natural way to its customers as earliest from the production house .Without damaging & much delay they choses such way that seems attractive to customers & also good for environment. We saw that there is different kind of lorry those are dedicated to specific products. Like Egg Van or Milk Van or Soda bottle van. All comes in different shape & structure to hold & transport the product in fastest & safest way to its end users
b) Milk being supplied in glass bottles, later in plastic bags and now in tetra pack and through vending machines. Changing the mode of packaging & distribution is a sure way to help & protect the nature. We can see the journey of a product from being a garbage after use to being reuses after its product life cycle .we know that glass & plastics are major threat to environment & hard to recycler than paper.
c) Plastic furniture [doors and stools] gaining preference over wooden furniture. People feel that plastic products are more attractive, durable & easy to carry than wooden furniture. A plastic made product is cheaper & requires fewer eyes for maintenance & movement throughout the year. They are also immune to environmental changes like rain or summer .We know that wooden furniture can get moist or may get caught fungus if doesn’t cared much on time.
d) The origin of cardboard and the various stages of changes and growth. Cupboards are again easy to carry, lighter in weight comparatively with any ones else. We can reuse & reshaped them. They are simplest form of light weight products packaging & short distance transportations.
e) Brown paper bags packing to recycled paper bags to plastic bags and cloth bags. Brown paper bags are most naturally recycles & 1st form of any recycle product. So their life cycle is short & we can use them repetitively by continuous recycle. They are easy to decompose in nature. Again they are attractive & less in weight.
f) Reuse of packaging [bottles, jars and tins] to attract customers for their products. Yes, putting the recycle sign on products give the feed good & proud to both manufacturer & user because Manufacturer feels responsible & user think that they are not doing any harm to them & nation by using this particular product.
g) The concept of pyramid packaging for milk. As we know very well about the power of pyramids for their property of perseverance for longer time & at best standards with natural touch. Same concept now a day applied in food & beverage packaging to provide the faith to customers that products are more natural yet sharp & safe .By that we can pack more quantity in fewer surfaces & less material used
h) Cost being borne by the consumer/manufacturer. I think cost it is going to reduced & profit of it going help both manufacturer & customer because With extra saving on production manufacturer can use that fund for more innovations, research work & development activities . Whereas customer is happy with cost reduction & upgraded quality of product with respect to his health & environment both.
i) Packaging used as means of advertisements. Now a day’s companies doing their advertisements at single glace only. On the placekicking the single product, they display their whole product range to attract more customers & retain the exiting users for forever.
As transportation cost goes up, manufacturers are making the weight of packed material lower per unit, hence cardboard cartons are replacing wooden crates. One other reason is cardboard boxes are made from waste or recycled paper; on the other hand, trees have to be felled for making wooden crates.
Tetra packs are not breakable like glass, they are also an aseptic form of packaging that can store milk for longer periods of time without getting spoilt. Vending machines store plenty of milk, which can cater to a lot of people; installation of these machines has also removed the packaging cost altogether.
Plastic doors and windows are lighter and last long, unlike wooden ones which get spoilt due to sun and rain. Use of plastic for making doors and windows also does away with wanton felling of trees for wood.
Cardboard is made from recycled paper and extensive use of this material for packaging helps save use of other non bio-degradable material; compared to heavier material like wood or metal, cardboard is a lot lighter.
Pyramid packaging replacing square or rectangular shaped packaging helps in storing more packages in any given space.
Customers today are asked to pay the cost of plastic carry bags to dissuade them from using such bags which affect the environment as they are not bio-degradable.
Earlier brown paper bags were used as packaging material. To make things attractive plastic bags were introduced. But, as civilisation became conscious of the ill effects of plastic, items like cloth was introduced for packaging or carrying material.
Advertisers use packaging very intelligently and aesthetically, so that the product attracts the attention of prospective customers over other products in the same category. The packaging material, the written words, the shape and size etc are all micromanaged at the time of launching a new product.