I love buying things in bulk, especially non-perishable items. Ranging from shampoo to all-purpose cleaners, many companies offer over-sized options. Not only do these items help you save money, they're better for the environment. Bulk buying helps to reduce packaging, thus reducing the energy and materials required to make the packaging, and thus reducing the amount of waste once the product has been used. If you decide to purchase biodegradable, non-animal tested products, you're doing even better. But I would like to suggest my bulk waste syndrome hypothesis.Take, for instance, two options: one 48 oz bottle of shampoo versus four 12 oz bottles. The latter option results in greater packaging waste. The prior option, however, may result in fewer lathers-and-rinses. Even though the two options offer the same overall amount of shampoo (48 oz), I hypothesize that the bulk shampoo bottle unknowingly makes people to use more shampoo for each lather-and-rinse, which is caused by the 'bulk waste syndrome.' When people use smaller containers, they are more likely to use smaller amounts of shampoo because they perceive that not very much is available. In the bulk case, people perceive that much more shampoo is available, and they are more likely to use larger amounts because of a lessened fear of running out any time soon.
I've run this idea by a couple of people, and they were quite shocked I'd even suggest such a ludicrous idea. But, I stand by my logic. Think about how you behave when your liquid soap is about to run out. You use smaller and smaller amounts to stretch it as far as it will go.
Assuming for a moment that this hypothesis is true, what can you do about it? I constantly try to gage how much of something I use. It's easy to squirt an overwhelming dollop of toothpaste on your brush. But take a step back and think, is it really necessary? Most of it will probably never touch your teeth. How much hand soap is really necessary to clean your dirty paws? One full squirt from my pump would bath a small army. Just think about it, and get back to me.
Image: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:TRESemmé.jpg
4 comments:
Your hypo makes perfect sense to me. Although I wonder if it makes a noticeable difference in the usage rate of many products. Regardless, you make a good point that we could use less shampoo, soap, etc.
I completely agree with your hypothesis. This same phenomenon has been documented in numerous studies on nutritional habits: people eat more food when they're eating off of large plates. We recommend to people all the time that they use smaller plates when trying to lose weight. I think it goes back to evolution (shocking)...it's sort of a biological imperative to take advantage in times of plenty...when there's lots of fruit in the trees, you stuff your face and get fat in an effort to ward off the ever-present potential of starvation. It makes total sense that this drive would carry over into other aspects of life, and I think your shampoo scenario is a perfect example. You gotta get while the gettin's good, right?
-Em
You both make good points. It is probably a small difference. It wouldn't be a bad idea to include non-perishable items in this idea as well... you know... 5 lb bags of ice berg lettuce, etc.
Got a book for you, Keith, if you haven't already devoured it! It's called A Whole New Mind, by Daniel Pink. Definitely check it out--I'm reading it now, and I think you'll find the part about appreciating good, useful design really interesting!
Post a Comment