It’s very likely that if you look around right now, you’ll see at least a few plastic items nearby. (Unless you enjoy reading Bored Panda in the serenity of a forest or some other place yet unspoiled by a human’s touch.) That is because nowadays plastic is everywhere around us, from gadgets to school supplies, decor items, and furniture, among many other things. As a matter of fact, we use it so much that global plastic consumption has increased six-fold since the 1980s.
We put our food in plastic boxes, things in plastic bags, even cover ourselves with plastic if need be (a poncho on a rainy day can surely come in handy). While these plastic items can be reusable, some can’t; and to make matters worse, they might also be completely unnecessary. Today, we have listed pictures of some of the most excruciatingly useless plastic packaging, which you can find below; but beware, they might make you reasonably upset with where the world is headed.
In order to learn more about plastic and its impact on the environment, Bored Panda got in touch with an expert in plastics production and processing, Professor at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, John Vlachopoulos, and he was kind enough to answer a few of our questions. You will find his thoughts in the text below.
Read More: 50 Facepalm-Worthy Packaging Fails That Really Had No Reason To Be That Bad
#1 We Ordered Two Paint Pens From Staples
Image credits: Vytian
#2 This Is How I Received My New Sim Card In The Mail
Image credits: Humanius
#3 Plastic Packaging For A CD Disk, But Without A CD Disk In It
Image credits: britishtacox
#4 Ordered 20 Iron Nails. They Came Individually Packed In Plastic
Image credits: Zornhauhesus
#5 Individually Wrapped Peppers That Are Used For Salad And Pre-Cut Into 1/4s Just To Have To Be Cut Again Into Smaller Pieces
Image credits: 6packobeer
#6 HelloFresh Packed 5 Cloves Of Garlic Separately In 5 Plastic Bags
Image credits: Ok-Instruction-9586
#7 Disposable Masks In Styrofoam And Plastic Wrap For $1 Only
Image credits: wackodindon
#8 Reusable Bag… Sold Inside Styrofoam Tray And Plastic Wrap
Image credits: nitra
#9 Packaging For Pre-Peeled Bananas
Image credits: Bubbleteade
#10 Costco Anti-Wrinkle Abomination
Image credits: geeroseworld
#11 Why Is The Ocean Filling Up With Plastic?
Image credits: Ac_50
#12 Coles Need To Get It Together. A “New” Pointless Plastic Product. 5 Individual Plastic Bottles Wrapped In Plastic
We can recycle as much as we like, but as long as corporations don’t change, we don’t stand a chance. This planet is doomed.
Image credits: JJGLC92
#13 Saw Somebody Post A Pic Of Plastic-Wrapped Potatoes. I Raise To You, Plastic-Wrapped Coconuts
Image credits: b1g_tun4
#14 14 Pieces Of Unnecessary Packaging And “Freebies” For A Tiny 15 Ml Spray From Paco Rabanne
Image credits: bobtwells
#15 Ordered 5 Nail Polishes From Amazon
Image credits: 22trenchcoats
#16 Individually Wrapped Gummy Bears
Image credits: OniTale
#17 Hypocrites At Sobeys Grocery Store In Halifax, Nova Scotia
Image credits: houseoffools11
#18 Fruits That Are Already Protected Naturally, Wrapped In Plastic
Image credits: xNeech
#19 This Is How We’re Suffocating The Earth In Plastic
Image credits: StonePineJack
#20 If Only Nature Would Find A Way To Cover These Tomatoes So We Wouldn’t Waste So Much Plastic On Them
Image credits: satanfan12
#21 Ordered A Replacement Bolt From Trek, This Is The Amount Of Packaging It Came In
Image credits: FormerCrow97
#22 Just Why
Image credits: SirBreadSticks
#23 Why Is There So Much Packaging For A Single Claritin? Isn’t This Wasteful?
Image credits: Dana-Mite
#24 Not Only Is It Egregious, But It’s Infuriating
Image credits: LosPenguiinos
#25 The Marshmallows In This Bag Come Individually Wrapped
Image credits: A_Talking_iPod
#26 My School Started An Eco-Friendly Project By Giving Out Apples To Students
Image credits: BunKuro
#27 This Aluminum Can Comes Wrapped In Plastic
Image credits: Celtic-Bhoy
#28 Ordered 150 Washers. This Is How They Were Packaged
Image credits: CoolBeansCook
#29 My Eco-Friendly Packaged Toothpicks Are Individually Wrapped In Plastic
Image credits: Wind-wheel
#30 These “Save Our Planet” Cups Are Individually Sealed In Plastic At Our Hotel
Image credits: Arial7
#31 Xfinity Was Giving Away Reusable Straws At An Art Fest. The Straw Is Wrapped In Plastic, Then Put In A Cheap Velvet Pouch, Then Wrapped In Plastic Again. Way To Save The Environment Xfinity
Image credits: ikiru71
#32 All Of This For One Purse (Cat For Scale)
Image credits: Almond_Roses
#33 Hello Fresh Sent My Carrots For One Meal In 8 Separately Sealed Plastic Bags
Image credits: dweber618
#34 Purchased A Year’s Worth Of Zinc Tablets Online. To My Surprise, I Got 6 Bottles Instead Of 1. These Pills Must Be Pretty Big, I Thought
Well… No. The bottles were 90% empty. All 360 tablets fit in a single bottle. What a waste.
Image credits: reddit.com
#35 Individually Packed Olives My Roommate Bought
Image credits: Fit-Consideration299
#36 Such A Waste Of Plastic
Image credits: Alexii2
#37 The Amount Of Packaging Amazon Used For A Single Box Of Brita Filters
Image credits: halfbean
#38 Even My Toddlers Were Like “Father, This Seems Rather Egregious For Three Plastic Boards You Ordered At The Same Time From Amazon”
Image credits: kevin0611
#39 A Very Special Tomato I Guess
Image credits: FreelanceNursePH
#40 I Ordered 20 Books And All Arrived Individually Packaged. 3 Are Still Missing
Image credits: ArchSyker
#41 My Chef Saved $2.50/300 Units If They Come Individually Wrapped. So I Spent The First Hour Of My Shift Unwrapping Them
Image credits: DarthSkat
#42 If Only Oranges Came With Their Own Protective Packaging So We Didn’t Have To Use Plastic
Image credits: c08306834
#43 Individually Wrapped Lemon Slices
Image credits: andreayenchen
#44 The Amount Of Packaging Required For Me To Buy The Additional Equipment I Need To Use My iPhone
All of this would have come in the phone’s box five years ago, but Apple decided to stop including them to cut down on packaging and waste.
Image credits: BeckburyWolf
#45 The Amount Of Unnecessary Plastic That This Toy Package Has
Image credits: Carbohydrate838
#46 This Needlessly Large Packaging For A 20 Mm Sized Micro SD Card
Image credits: GuardingxCross
#47 Costco Sells A Tiny Sachet Of Saffron In A Bulk-Sized Spice Container
Image credits: illBelief
#48 Why? For What Reason? To What Possible Advantage?
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Image credits: derek139