Some
people believe that manufacturers and supermarkets should minimize the
packaging material used. However, others think that consumers should avoid
heavily packaged goods. Discuss both views and give your opinion.
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| Ielts Essay - Over Packaging |
The growing wastage production, that is also
leading to increase in pollution and exploitation of natural resources, has raised
an alarm among the environmentalists. Some necessary steps need to be taken to
stop this. To start with, use of packaging material should be minimized. But, on
whom onus of taking initiative, consumers or companies, is yet to be decided.
A producer of goods is the source of
packaging innovations. It has been experienced in the past that in an attempt
to attract the consumers, the manufacturers have started using attractive
packaging that involves extravagant use of material. Nobody can do it better
than the producers themselves, i.e. the consumers, if rationally analysed, are
least bothered about the amount of packaging used, and simply remain focussed
on the quality of content. So, if the consumer companies could initiate
reduction in amount of packing, the consumers would take a cue and follow the
trend.
Moreover, if the companies take a step ahead
in reducing the amount of packing material used, it would be interpreted into
multiple benefits, ranging from reduction in wastage of resources to bringing
down the cost of production; increasing the profit margins; and ultimately
reducing the selling price. The benefits accrued on reducing cost of production
would also be transferred to the customers, thereby increasing the sales, as
more and more goods would be consumed.
However, it has been experienced that when it
comes to influencing market trends, buyers can bring around change quickly,
i.e. if the buyers stop purchasing goods, the manufacturers would be forced to
react rapidly, and implement changes, e.g. in the past consumers forced the
producers to start using greener technologies in manufacturing processes.
To conclude, I feel both customers and
manufacturers should jointly share the responsibility of avoiding overuse of
packing material. Surfeit use of packing material is recipe for disaster for the environment; thus, this evil must be eradicated quickly.
