Today we continue with Part 2.

LED light bulb packaging

Akihiko Kotani and Mitsutoshi Ohta designers in Tokyo, Japan, created for Panasonic Corporation in Osaka, Japan, a LED light bulb packaging with a paper craft-like structure. The packaging can just be folded without the need for heat molding. The packaging simply divides into transparent PET plastic and cardboard, which makes for easy disposal of the separated components. And because there is no printing on the case, there are no impurities such as ink to deal with, which makes recycling easier. The one-touch pinch-and-pull opening allows the consumer to extract the products easily. The packaging is shaped to fit well in the hand, and checking what is inside through the packaging is easy. Particular consideration has been given to prevent incorrect purchases by enabling customers to touch and check the metal caps. Lamps are a hot item in terms of clamshells and blister packaging. Besides Panasonic, Brazilian designers also created a workable alternative.

FLC Sustainable fluorescent lamp packaging

Despite its characteristics such as greater energy efficiency and life expectancy in comparison to incandescent lamps, fluorescent lamps contain toxic residues which may contaminate the environment in case of inappropriate discard or accidents regarding its handling and transportation. For a college project executed for FLC, a Brazilian fluorescent lamp company, Guilherme Parolin, and Fabrício Vaz, both students at the UFRGS – Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul in Porto Alegre/Brazil, designed a packaging for a fluorescent lamp. The FLC sustainable packaging, beyond a mere packaging, proposes a new kind of relationship between the consumer and the fluorescent lamp by facilitating the return of the replaced, old or damaged bulb to its manufacturer and its due recycling. The package, composed mainly from molded paper pulp, offers an efficient protection of the new lamp from the point of sale to its place of use, and acts, in its second life, as a protective case for the inoperative lamp, which can therefore be discarded safely in domestic waste or forwarded to a proper waste collection point. Molded ribs and latches inside the packaging ensure a correct positioning and fixing of the lamp against possible impacts. The hexagonal shape offers greater stability and better use of space at the point of sale. The sleeve, made from recycled paper provides the relevant information to the consumer in a hierarchical way. Although the designers claim that its major innovation is the use of molded paper pulp, in the same way as for egg packaging, to ensure the protection and safety of the lamp, the result is a “blind” packaging. The consumer can’t see the product. To create a positive visual impact it would be interesting to execute this packaging in a thermoformable recyclable plastic film, which would allow for a consumer-friendly clamshell by its longitudinal opening and the use of the reliefs for a better ergonomic performance.   Stay tuned for the next post to read about an interesting food label. Learn more at http://www.ctipack.com