Have you noticed how tea bag cartons often don’t have an outer plastic wrap any more? The tea bags are now sealed for freshness in a foil bag inside the carton.
Great idea, but what’s with the carton? It is just not needed.
In one of our earlier posts we pointed out that using bags to sell instant coffee makes the product look more premium, whilst saving a great deal of packaging. The same applies to tea, as it has a broadly similar language to coffee, and loose tea is now often sold in bags.
There is a danger that the carton is used as a convenient graphic device, or to help with transporting and displaying the product, or it may be that the producers are simply waiting for someone else to make the first paradigm shifting move, but one would have thought that the cost savings alone would be enough to convince them.
There is a darker, more cynical possibility, which we suspect applies to many products. That having a recyclable element to the packaging gives the consumer the perception that a pack is more environmentally friendly, rather than simply using the most minimal and efficient packaging possible.
Whatever the reason, let's ditch the carton.
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