Are you driven to fury and frustration with the difficulties and dangers of opening bubble packs? These blisters of clear plastic appear to be designed to protect the goods in transit and for ease of marketing, not for ease of use by the consumer, but help is at hand! Try this for a solution:
Ask the shopkeeper to open it for you!
He or she will probably need a sharp knife or scissors.
Imagine the consternation at the checkout. If enough of us do this it will soon make senior executives in big supermarkets aware of the difficulties and dangers their customers face at home, particularly if there is a spate of checkout injuries to ponder over.
We need a sustained campaign by shoppers to get the message across. Ask for this help each time experience tells you a bubble pack is going to be difficult to open. Remember, supermarket bosses have the clout to force manufacturers to rethink their bubble pack designs - urgently.
An Individual Member tried out this idea in a big supermarket. She reports that the good lady at the inquiry desk was very willing, but soon in difficulties over opening the bubble pack. Eventually she did the job with the help of a so called "safety knife". But she had to use the "safety knife" with a lot of force. It did not look at all safe to our tester. In fact opening some packs may be so dangerous that "Safety at Work" regulations will prevent supermarket staff from opening them. But there are no "Safety at Home" regulations which prevent bubble packers giving us packaging which is dangerous to open.
It took about four minutes to open the pack, not including the time spent waiting in a queue, so it is not a job to do in a rush. Of course it does save you spending these same minutes on a dangerous job at home.
Some bubble packs have an opening, marked out with perforated dots on the cardboard back. Even this is not always easy to open and a sharp knife is sometimes needed. Once open, the pen, battery or whatever you have bought, drops out easily. All too often, however, once the back of the pack is torn or cut open, important information about the product becomes illegible.
Why do not all bubble packs have an easily opened back or a peel off access label of some kind? Manufacturers of small packs of milk have improved their designs so that less milk is spilled when opening and pouring. If they can do it, so can bubble pack manufacturers.
If enough attention is drawn to this problem of opening some bubble packs the manufacturers will, eventually, find a solution. Whatever brilliant idea they come up with, when the pack is opened, consumers should be left with vital information in a readable condition, such as the name and address of the manufacturer of the goods contained, instructions for use and any safety warnings.
incpen
(The Industry Council for Packaging and the Environment), an NfCG Corporate Associate, thinks it is. They quote a written Parliamentary answer given by junior Environment Minister, Angela Eagle, on December 15th which revealed that, since 1992, the UK has spent a staggering £3.5 million on the scheme with only twelve products bearing the Eco-label."There must be more cost-effective ways to provide environmental information," said Jane Bickerstaffe, the Technical Director of incpen . She went on to say "we support Environment Minister, Michael Meacher’s decision to undertake a review. Consumers need better environmental information, not simplistic logos and bunches of daisies".
incpen
recommends that industry and consumer groups should jointly decide what information consumers actually want and how best to provide it.NfCG supports an Eco-labelling Scheme but has made suggestions to the Government for improvements. Since the launch of the present scheme in 1992 a total of twelve products in four categories (washing machines, toilet paper, kitchen towels and household paints and varnishes) have been awarded the Eco-label in Britain and 160 in twelve categories Euro-wide.
The Eco-labelling Board has spent much effort (and £500,000) on publicising the scheme but to what effect? Do you consider whether the paint or kitchen towels you buy have the Eco-label? [The Editor does for paper goods] More fundamentally, would you buy an Eco-approved washing machine if it was more expensive than another reputable model?
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