Some people believe that manufacturers and supermarkets should minimise the packaging material used. However, others think that consumers should avoid heavily packaged goods. Discuss both views and give your opinion. - Ielts Essay

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.

 

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.