You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Do you think consumers should avoid over packed products or it is the responsibility of product producers to avoid extra packaging of products?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
You should write at least 250 words.
Sample Answer 1:
Over-packaging of products has become a trend in today’s competitive world. Producers are trying to attract consumers with an attractive packaging of their products, not bothered about its negative impact not only on our environment but the users as well. It should be the responsibility of the producers to limit the wastage of the resources in the form of unnecessary packaging.
The cost of over packaging is actually added to the product sold. In fact, at times it is seen the packing cost and durability is more that the product itself. The type of packaging found in pharmaceutical industries can be taken as an example here. Pills and tablets are found to be packed in much bigger and colourful strips than needed. Does this increase the sale of medicine? No. Such packaging is of no concern to the consumers. But, the cost of medicine would have definitely been lesser if sold in a simple outlook.
Further, the material used is mostly non-disposable which adds to the environmental pollution to a great extent. Snacks and other food items packaged in eye-catchy shimmering coloured packets are consumed on a large scale by everybody. These packets are really difficult to dispose of as they emit poisonous gas if burnt and if not can be seen to contaminate water somewhere. Producers should realise the importance of using materials like paper and stick to simple packaging.
Packaging as seen increases the cost of the product and also makes our environment unhealthy. So, this packaging boom should be checked on a serious note by the producers. Moreover, the producers should be restricted to predefined rules and parameters set by the government. It is also recommended that an awareness among the users that quality of the product is important rather than the attractive packaging.
[ by – Shraddha Pasari ]
Sample Answer 2:
This is a true fact to consider that over packaging has become a trend of the modern competitive market. Considering this, there are some analysts who hold an opinion that consumers should avoid over packed products while others consider consumers should not avoid over packed products. This essay will give assertion on both sides of the contention before deducing a reasonable conclusion.
There are reasonable arguments in favour of over packaging from the manufacturer. They try to make products as lucrative looking as possible. Consumers have a number of alternative options in the market but some of them concern style or looks of packaging while deciding to buy a product. Attractive packaging could be a significant factor for selling more. It is generally seen that product producers try to attract their customers in many ways by over packaging. For example, in the case of some biscuit packs, we can see that the biscuits are placed in the small plastic tray and covered with multiple layers of packets. In terms of keeping these sorts of products intact and fresh, it is sometimes necessary to use over packing. In these cases, the manufacturer would show reasons that they are over packing products for the sake of customers’ benefit. From this regards, it seems logical that the customer should make an informed decision whether or not to buy products that use over packing.
In spite of views discussed above regarding of over packaging, there are some groups who are in favour of avoiding over packed products and say that the manufacturers are deceiving customers by over packing their products. The cost of packaging and their detrimental effects on our environment could be substantial reasons behind of the opponents’ viewpoint. All the packaging costs are directly being added to the consumers and they have to spend more than the value of products. A few real products are often presented in a large container and packet and the customers are being deceived by the packet sized. Moreover, the manufacturers often use non-disposable wrappers and packets which add bad effects to the environmental.
In the end, undoubtedly, extra packaging of products has a detrimental effect on the society; however, as far as I am concern consumers should avoid over-packaging products to solve the negative effects it possessed to them and to the environment. If customers start avoiding such unnecessary over packing of products, manufacturers would be bound to change the way they are doing the packing nowadays.
[ by – Thilini Shani ]