Sustainable rice packaging becomes an artistic tissue box in afterlife

Posted on 08/04/2020 by Ruchi Thukral

The Srisangdao rice grows in Thailand in a controlled environment and every year only a limited quality is produced. Because of how special the rice is, the environment where it grows and how it is stored is given the utmost care making sure there are no chemicals hampering the quality. To showcase Thung Kula Ronghai’s efforts of growing this gorgeous grain, a designer reimagined the packaging as a tribute to the process with a purpose that went beyond preserving rice.

The packaging is created using chaffs, a natural waste product from husking, which very literally incorporates the process which the designers wanted to celebrate through this product. The box has simple yet meaningful art surrounding the Srisangdao rice – it is die-formed with an oversized rice grain embossed on it which is the main artistic element. The grain graphic is complemented with wave-like lines and smaller embossed design of the crop in full bloom. The designer has also burn-stamped the logo of the rice mill from the Thung Kula Ronghai region on the box. A thoughtful detail that really completes the picture is the rice inside comes in a miniature sack just like the traditional one. All these pieces put together truly bring out the different elements of the rice’s identity and lifecycle.

What makes this organic packaging more interesting is the fact that it can be used as a tissue box after it has served its purpose of storing rice. It is completely eco-friendly as well as recyclable and generates minimal production waste. To see how a simple rice packaging can completely be reimagined and redesigned to tell a story while still providing value after its main job is done is an inspiration to continue being creative.

Designer: Somchana Kangwarnjit

Sustainable straws that don’t get soggy and saves turtles!

Posted on 20/03/2020 by Ruchi Thukral

The world, as a whole, has started to care for turtles and has quickly moved on to use eco-friendly straws. The options are metal straws and paper straws. Metal straws are good for homes and for people to carry them to their office but it is an inconvenient option for eateries. So cafes and restaurants have adopted paper straws as they are easily recyclable and don’t require the effort of cleaning. However, the only problem with paper straws is that they get soggy and your drink will taste like wet paper and you might accidentally eat a bit of it – both things don’t leave a good “taste” in your mouth and can deter people from using sustainable straws. Straw Wars – sustainable products vs drinks that taste like paper, who will win?

To solve this behavioral and environmental issue a Warsaw-based company has designed a better alternative straw made with dried stems! It solves the biggest problem we face with paper straws, it does not soak the liquid and it does not add any flavor to the drink – it is true. Stem straws work for both hot and cold drinks so we can make the collective effort to reduce the impact of plastic straws on the environment. The USA alone uses 500 million straws daily so you can imagine what the total global usage would be. According to One Less Straw fund, every year, as a result of swallowing pieces of plastic debris, 100,000 marine animals and about a million seabirds are die. This is why we need to make the switch to sustainable straws, so if you keep losing your metal straw then get a pack of STRAWS which has 50 stem straws and comes in 100% recycled cardboard packaging.

The inspiration behind the STRAWS was an old childhood memory – when you visit your grandmother in the village, go out into the field, grab a spikelet and drink fresh milk through it. Those very children grew up and turned to their roots to make this ingenious sustainable product that reduces the toxic impact of plastic on our environment. The product was inspired by Slavic traditions of making decor dried stems. The wicker shapes on the packaging are called “spiders” because in centuries-old Slavic culture it is believed that “spiders” protect the houses of villagers from fires, hurricanes and other natural disasters which made it a fitting symbol for the straws protecting nature.

Designer: PG Brand Reforming

Cup Noodles made eco-friendly with this 100% paper packaging design!

Posted on 11/03/2020 by Ruchi Thukral

Who doesn’t love a cup of steamy instant noodles? And who hates the fact that the container is so toxic? Low-quality plastic and harmful polystyrene make the cup that holds your noodles – and we all know what happens when heat and plastic mix. The packaging is not only bad for the environment but can leave minuscule toxic residue in your noodles which can be dangerous for your health, especially if you consume them often as these particles build up in your system over time.

A study shows that in 2018 alone 103 billion packets of instant noodles were sold worldwide. The global demand for it is soaring because it is easy to cook, saves time and is budget-friendly which makes it extremely popular among young people. You can imagine the waste produced by 103 billion packets and cups so we as a society must strive to create a sustainable future by tackling the packaging challenges of one of the world’s biggest industries.

Fortunately, we have an answer – 100% paper noodle packaging created by Australian student Emily Enrica. Her design is called Paper Noodle which will stick in your memory because it is so easy. Her packaging is made from paper pulp which is 100% biodegradable, recyclable, microwave safe and FDA tested food safe. The design of the box is ergonomic which makes it comfortable to hold even when the contents inside are hot. The belly band of the box is made of debossed paper pulp too. It comes with a cover label that keeps the noodles sealed. Even the spoon is made of paper pulp further reducing waste. Now that is a cup of noodles – serves you and the environment!

Designer: Emily Enrica

A sustainable takeout box to save 500 years of recycling styrofoam!

Posted on 10/03/2020 by Ruchi Thukral

In 2017 while I was living in California, the local government made the laws around using styrofoam (polystyrene) even more strict and all restaurants around my office stopped doing take-outs for a short while due to lack of a better alternative for the cheap boxes – just one example of how dependent we are as a society on styrofoam that we are turning a blind eye to its toxic effects. Designer Ross Dungan wants to solve this problem with a creative solution without destroying the cultural icon – the clamshell takeout box – of the Netflix generation.

Styrofoam has a 24-hour lifespan but it is formed with materials that can last for 500 years, can you imagine the landfills at the rate we consume this product? “We need to stop and think about the environmental costs of our lifestyle,” says Dungan when talking about the notoriously single-use packaging that has been adopted worldwide. The box itself is so widely recognized that is has transcended continents and languages, so Dungan’s design aims to leverage its easy recall value while delivering a stronger message on sustainable living.

The product is rightly called Leftovers and hopes to be a design that disrupts normalization of polystyrene before it can become a mass-scale direct solution to the problem, the first step is to educate. For convenience and functionality, it is also dishwasher safe and recyclable. The redesigned box has a stainless steel body that enhances its functionality as a reusable food container while also bringing attention to how one small change can reduce the amount in our trash can. This visible change on an individual level can lead to a positive change in behavior without feeling like it was a drastic turn from what the general society is used to – this makes it easier to adapt to new habits quicker.

Designer: Ross Dungan.