New Videogame Packaging Helps Save the World

[Carlston]

New Videogame Packaging Helps Save the World

With new Eco-Boxes, you can now save the world with every Xbox 360 game you purchase.

In an effort to reduce waste and the amount of CO2 emitted in the production of disc cases, the Viva Group designed the Eco-Box. The new packaging, already in use by movie companies for the last two years, reduces the amount of plastic used in traditional boxes by 20%. The Eco-Box is being used by Microsoft for Xbox 360 games and Viva is in talks with Sony and Nintendo to provide the packaging for PS3 and Wii games.

Kyle Sheppard, Manager of Business Development at Viva, claimed that retailers like Walmart actually spearheaded the initiative to curtail the amount of waste that packaging creates all over the world. "Walmart even introduced a packaging scorecard with certain criteria that must be met, including reducing all packaging by 5% by 2013," Sheppard said. "The Eco-Box already exceeds this goal for the entertainment industry."

Oddly, the Eco-Box doesn't have much to do with reducing the bottom line for game manufacturers. "With the rise in material prices over the past few of months, if anything, the Eco-Box has allowed publishers to maintain the price they were paying for boxes during the first half of this year," Sheppard said. "This really isn't a cost cutting move, at least not at this point." It's actually about saving the world.

As Sheppard puts it, "A hypothetical new Xbox 360 release of 1 million units would have a 31,000 lbs reduction in CO2 [emissions] by switching from the standard Xbox 360 box to the Xbox 360 Eco-Box." That's 31k lbs less CO2 in our atmosphere for each million Xbox games made.

This is the kind of story which warms the cockles of my heart. Now if we could abolish the frightfully wasteful practice of wrapping Christmas gifts, the human race might last on this planet a few years longer.

Source: IGN [http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/105/1050097p1.html]

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There will always be CO2 in our air honestly, you'd save that much co2 asking people to hold in 2 farts every week. Need more natural CO2 removing plants and the like...

Carbon foot prints are just money you make divided by money you throw away on make believe clean up...

Unless it's insain to open, and stops shoplifters I doubt they will do it. The casing itself is just that "Money saving."

 

[DaxStrife]

The idea has merit, but if you really want to reduce waste on game packages you need to get rid of the plastic wrap and stickers on every edge.
I think it'd be easier to go back to cardboard boxes; at least those were recyclable.

 

[Americow]

I thought someone had stabbed holes in my MW2 case, then I noticed the brand on it.

 

[Pimppeter2]

Like we needed an excuse

 

[Phyroxis]

I'm all for the planet saving.

 

[Gildan Bladeborn]

Everyone always gives me grief for opening gifts so meticulously that you could actually use the paper again if you wanted to (and my extended family often does in fact), but I rest easy knowing I have the moral high ground, ha!

I think the last time I gave somebody a gift I just re-used a paper bag from the grocery store, and then promptly put it back into service when they'd removed the gift - why throw away a perfectly good paper bag?

 

[Pegghead]

I'm all for it, so long as the boxes look just the same as they did before and they don't make a big song and dance about it.

 

[copycatalyst]

Reducing carbon emissions is good and all, but keep in mind that killing the world less quickly isn't the same as saving it.

 

[samsonguy920]

I wonder why they don't use compressed rice cellulose, then after you put your game in it's wallet you can eat the packaging!

Awesome idea... sort of. What about all the touching that gets done to your game package as it's being shipped and shelved?

That just sounds...dirty.

 

[squid5580]

So lets get right down to the important stuff. How are the tabs? Do they make you feel like you are going to snap the disc every time you pull it out?

I hate it when they make you bend the disc to remove it. Scares the shit out of me.

The special edition tins are the worst for it. I swear they make them so you snap the disc and have to buy a regular edition as well.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

My old video rental store had case in the style of DVDs, but of CD height, for their PS1 games.

Surely that would be the answer that pleased most people, the same thing, just shorter, as to me, (and I haven't seen one of these , only the picture above) it looks like some kind of dust magnet, with all the holes.

 

[hypothetical fact]

Good to see companies are making flimsier products to save money and aren't passing on the savings to us.

 

[Simalacrum]

hurraaaaay, econess!

Greenpeace Man approves!

 

[Jared]

Well, they are green at least which is I suppose a good direction to go in.

Well done Micrsoft (for once lol)

 

[TitsMcGee1804]

Now if we could abolish the frightfully wasteful practice of wrapping Christmas gifts, the human race might last on this planet a few years longer.

OMG! I never even thought about that before, thanks for giving me a great excuse not to fanny about wrapping presents at 3am christmas day in a drunken stupor after christmas eve pub

In all seriousness...this is a very good point, we normally get through 2 bags full of packaging, and what for? its needless

im gonna push a wrapless christmas in my family this year

 

[GeneralGrant]

Good move I suppose.

Just like PC companies switched from those gigantic boxes to the smaller ones we have today.

 

[Beatrix]

Why are there holes in my cases? \/ Discs don't need airflow!
I'm all for saving the world, but can they at least try to keep in mind that I'd like my game to stay intact for a while? It just so much less sturdy to me.

And if they wanted to save the world or reduce on packaging costs then maybe they should rethink their approach to MS-point and XBL subscription cards (I assume the PS3 ones are similar), they are just single pieces of paper but they're packaged in a case just like a videogame.

 

[Banter]

TBH this isn't 'environmentally friendly' - it still damages the environment.
It's 'less environmentally damaging than the other option'

Kind of like how food products that have 33% less saturated fat fat still have more fat than if you didn't take them in the first place.


Why can't we make them out of wood?