Repurposed—Not Just Recycled

Designer Glyn Eppy touts the merits of packaging that can be re-used through creative design and ideas.

Written By: Glyn Eppy, co-founder and VP at The Design Spot

Author Bio: Glyn Eppy is a principal at The Design Spot, an award winning boutique design and branding studio, started in 1996, that specializes in packaging for the skincare and personal care industries.

Is green the new black? Unfortunately, it goes way deeper than just being fashionable now.

Take a look back to when we were kids…we were re-purposing packaging long before there was even a name for it! A milk carton with the top cut off, became a planter, an egg carton a perfect place to sort buttons, paperclips or jewelry, and my favorite, two metal cans and a piece of string, and poof, you had a “phone!” We’ve come a long way since then, especially in terms of technology and the world we now live in.

Since we’ve spent so many years as a disposable society, it can be difficult to think back to those simpler times when we thought of ways to re-use things ourselves. Why not tell the consumers how to use the package again? Let’s show what can be done with the package once it has served its initial purpose of visually conveying the brand attributes and protecting its contents.

With more and more talk about secondary packaging being wasteful or unnecessary, we really need to look to new ways to create more “environmentally friendly” packaging ideas.

A few years ago, Cargo designed a secondary lipstick package that was printed on a unique paper, infused with wildflower seeds. Plant the package–and watch the flowers grow!

As a designer, one fun way we’ve looked at “adding value” to the product, is by designing a secondary package that can be used again, but in a different way. Print on the inside of the carton—it can be printed with a specific message, with a puzzle that can be cut out, or drawings that can be colored-in. The box can even serve as a piggy bank to collect pennies for a good cause.

It takes innovation and creativity to design a package that can contribute to saving the planet, but isn’t it worth it?

www.thedesignspot.com