Both a source of inspiration and an invaluable reference tool, Big Book of Packaging Prototypes provides a visual catalyst for the creation of exciting package designs. The diverse range of carton ...
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Garment hangers are easy to dislike as sources of home clutter and all but impossible to avoid as raw materials of environmental overload.
It’s been estimated, for example, that 8 billion hangers—enough to fill 4.6 Empire State Buildings from basement to observation deck—go into landfills every year because there’s no adequate method of recycling them. Plastic hangers may do a bit better in the waste recovery stream than their notorious wire cousins, but not when they contain non-recyclable components or consist of plastics that are difficult to reprocess.
If there ever was a quotidian object crying out for a greening, it is the much-maligned garment hanger—and at last, this necessary nuisance of home and marketplace is getting its chance at environmental respectability.
Innovative suppliers now make them of recycled and recyclable materials that are fully compatible with the waste recovery systems in place in most areas. Some are exploiting their ubiquity by turning them into a powerful channel for brand messaging and product promotion. And at least one earth-minded designer sees them as decorative accessories as well as utility items for keeping shirts, slacks, and skirts neatly stored.
“Delivery mechanism” = package
Hangers aren’t “packages” per se, but their pervasiveness in the consumer-products sphere merits them a place in any serious discussion of trends in eco-sensitive packaging.
Because dry cleaners and retailers rely on them to convey clothing to consumers, says Jeff Jensen, CEO of Vesta Green Marketing Solutions, “they are a delivery mechanism as is any other package.” Increasingly, clothes are shipped from garment factories pre-hung, assuring that end-users eventually will have to make the same decisions about the hangers as they would about boxes or shipping pouches that are no longer needed.
The right decision, say manufacturers of eco-friendly alternatives, is either to bin-sort the hangers along with other recyclable household waste or to delay their entry into landfills by continuing to use them at home. To encourage these outcomes, they’re eliminating metal and other materials that make the conventional hanger, according to Gary Barker, founder and CEO of Greenheart Global Inc., “a nasty little product” to recycle.
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