M Green Waste? Trends in Retail Packaging for Outdoor Industry Products

by Nicole Chilton and Ryan Jordan

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Article Summary:

Going light can be addictive.

You start by slowly reducing your gear and redefining what you truly need for backpacking. The extra miles, happy knees and ankles, and more enjoyable trips feel great, so you dive in deeper. You make lists, buy a scale, and start bugging sales clerks about the weight of each piece of new gear. You even start making your own "adjustments" to your gear - a little snip here, a small hack there.

Then, before you know it, you start lightening the load in other areas of your life.

You pitch belongings out of your car, purse, briefcase, desk and gym bag, all too happy to throw out those excess ounces and grams. Until you go after your kid's school backpack with a pair of scissors and your spouse jumps in to tell you to take a break from the lightweight thing.

But what's so wrong with taking lightweight principles into mainstream everyday life? At Backpacking Light, we are happily preoccupied with how to make things lighter, stronger and better for backpackers and the planet. It's a daily obsession that easily grabs our attention no matter where we are. So, when outdoor industry companies started reducing the weight of their retail packaging, and looking for ways to leave less of an impact on the planet, we took notice.

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