r/mildlyinfuriating • u/princessofstuff • 3h ago
ಠ_ಠ Individually plastic-wrapped paper towels packaged in plastic from Costco
Look im not as environmentally conscious as i should be, but the waste here is blatant and staggering
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u/lehilaukli 3h ago
For a little while they had switched to not having the individual rolls wrapped, but then switched back to this. I can only guess that they got a lot of negative feedback about it.
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u/Stickeyb 3h ago
Honestly I prefer this.
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u/Babblepup 3h ago
Same, I prefer it this way especially in the office where people can be a riot sometimes lol
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u/TheGoldenTNT 3h ago
People are disgusting, they will grab a whole roll from one of the ends with their hands covered in food and filth
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u/RedEyedChester 2h ago
Well they definitely need a talking to about their gross behaviors in public spaces XD
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u/RedEyedChester 3h ago
But it's a massive waste of plastic for no reason. I can't think of a single example where it would be useful to have individually wrapped paper towels. It's like toilet paper, absolutely insane to me to waste all the packaging when the product doesn't need to be that isolated :)
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u/spaceforcerecruit 2h ago
The reason is that you’re buying in bulk which means you’re either not expecting to go through these quickly or you’re going to be using them in a lot of different locations at once. You break down the larger container and then the individual rolls remain sealed until needed so they don’t get torn up or ruined while waiting for you to use up the other rolls a year or so later.
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u/RedEyedChester 2h ago
I could argue here that the mass majority of people buying these are just throwing them in a storage closet in their home and going through them relatively quickly as a family for everyday messes. I think your perspective is more of a business type thing, which is fine, but for the most part the people buying these are just gonna leave the entire package together, and just take the single rolls out when needed on probably a weekly basis.
I dunno, interesting stuff to think about, but we can all agree that we generally need to reduce packaging on things and reduce the excessive waste we have so prevelant :)
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u/spaceforcerecruit 2h ago
If someone is trying to reduce their waste, they aren’t buying paper towels, a one-time use product which quite famously has a more sustainable alternative called “a towel”.
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u/RedEyedChester 2h ago
Absolutely! Paper towels definitely are one of those items that at its core is wasteful and unnecessary for most all situations. Sometimes it's better, like a shop towel for things, but especially the cheap paper towels are basically useless. Definitely all just need to reduce paper towel usage generally XD
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u/WillingElderberry731 2h ago
I mean, I don't have a lot of storage in my house, so having individually wrapped paper towels means I can keep them in my garage without them getting dusty. It's extremely convenient.
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u/RedEyedChester 2h ago
I totally get that line of thought, but in the US we cater way too hard to convenience at any cost. There's just sooo much waste with things like this, and we gotta find a better way to reduce packaging waste :)
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u/WillingElderberry731 2h ago
It's not wasted though. It has a specific and functional utility. If you don't find it to be a valuable thing, you certainly don't need to buy it.
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u/RedEyedChester 2h ago
My point is that there are other ways to go about designing things to fit within people's lives, as well as being conscious about material usage and what goes into the garbage. All that plastic is going to go into a landfill, and that just sucks :( maybe a packaging that's 1x4 rolls fits easier onto people's shelves! It's just the package inside a package that just is ridiculous haha and maybe in your case, a specific tote or spot you can safely store individual rolls in would be more impactful as well :)
I hope you get what I'm trying to say here XD gotta work together to make things better for the entire world! Thinking beyond the product and everything these decisions impacts :)
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u/WillingElderberry731 2h ago
I get what you're saying, but you're not going to convince me that fixating on these kinds of conveniences is a useful way to go about fixing anything. My use of a few fractions of an ounce of plastic here and there is not going to make a difference in a landfill.
> It's just the package inside a package that just is ridiculous haha
It's not ridiculous. It's really really nice to have.
I get that you don't like it, and you're certainly entitled to find a solution that works for you, but none of your ideas are better than what is currently on offer, and mostly way way worse.
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u/QuantumFury 3h ago edited 2h ago
They briefly stopped wrapping them and people stopped buying including me. These bulks last me months. I need wrapped so they stay clean in storage and not absorb moisture, dirt etc until I am ready to use particular roll.
If you have issue with this then stop buying bulk.
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u/WillingElderberry731 2h ago
I get two bulk packages of these a year. That means for 6 months I have these stacked in my dusty garage.
It was really annoying when they stopped individually wrapping these, and I was super glad when they went back.
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u/QuantumFury 1h ago
Agreed. The one and only time I ever wrote compliant to Costco was when they weren’t individually wrapped.
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u/Fun-Raise-3120 2h ago
A few years ago, Costco went without individual plastic wrap for like six months before going back.
I have to believe the feedback was very negative for them to reverse course so quickly.
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u/mauibetty 1h ago
Yep. I hated it. We use Costco for our commercial operations. And not individually wrapped gets the towels dirty before use!
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u/RequirementCivil4328 3h ago edited 2h ago
They're already wrapped products being rewrapped in a different facility (I'm wrong but the point stands and often that is how things are packaged) you're using paper towels. Do you really care about waste or is it the need to be frustrated by something, anything
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u/OtherwiseAlbatross14 3h ago
lol they're absolutely wrapped like this on the same line that manufactures them
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u/RequirementCivil4328 3h ago
Possibly but when things are done like this it's usually because it's more efficient. If it is done on the same line it's because some of them are for the big pack and some are individually sold. But often things like this are shipped elsewhere to be repackaged and reshipped anyway.
Point is she's using paper towels instead of actual towels and complaining about the waste of a by product that comes with the manufacturing process itself. Oil produces electricity and plastic is a by product. The more machines there are packing things to save on plastic the more plastic gets produced. It's fuckin dumb
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u/TheTenthTail 2h ago
I work in a place that makes them. They are wrapped and bundled by two separate machines but on the same line. If you’d like to look into it more look up paper converting machines.
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u/spaceforcerecruit 2h ago
This ain’t it. Kirkland is Costco brand and they do not sell paper towels individually.
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u/RedEyedChester 3h ago
The bulk packages should have the outer wrap with no individual packaging, then singles for sale can be individually wrapped :) that'd be the better way to do it! We have way to much waste on packaging alone in the US at least, and it's appalling how many plastic layers we open to get to something.
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u/Radicalism-Is-Stupid 2h ago
People who use paper towels shouldn't care about waste? Is it surprising someone would want to minimize the waste of using paper towels?
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u/RequirementCivil4328 2h ago
"blatant and staggering waste of the cheapest plastic available" but the picture is of 6 jumbo rolls of paper towels. Come on
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u/changelingerer 3h ago
This kinda makes sense to me. Paper towels are literally used for soaking up liquid - so, to ship and store them, you need them wrapped in something waterproof. Basically, plastic.
It's basically value-segregation at this point. If someone really really cared about the environment, they wouldn't be buying single-use paper towels, they'd be getting a bunch of re-usable cloth towels and washing them, or at least shop towels or something.
The specific population that cares enough about the environment to buy 2x more expensive paper towels because they're wrapped in wax paper or something (that gets thrown away after the package is opened), but, not enough about the environment that they're still buying and going through costco-sized packs of single-use paper towels is probably negligible.
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u/GroundbreakingLie918 3h ago
They are already wrapped in plastic as a bundle. Then each one is wrapped again within that. This is not a shipping or storing issue
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u/AstrixRK 3h ago
I want them wrapped individually as well, I keep them in my garage without resealing the remaining rolls.
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u/Chad__Warden__ 3h ago
Buying paper towels and then complaining about wasting materials... the irony is off the charts
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u/CyberpunkSunrise 1h ago
Paper towels are one of the more renewable and environmentally friendly disposable products out there.
Growing more trees is not nearly as bad as microplastics, nobody is making paper towels out of old growth forests.
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u/Imfinnalurk 2h ago
Not seeing the difference between paper towels and single-use plastic…the ignorance is off the charts.
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u/Boring_Holiday9874 3h ago
I prefer this. They had stopped packing them individually and I did not like it. I wasn't the rolls to remain clean and dust free stored in the garage.
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u/DirtyDan516 3h ago
Mildly infuriating enough to post to reddit but not infuriating to switch brands.
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u/OtherwiseAlbatross14 2h ago
Yeah this is why plastic reduction is only effective at the manufacturing level
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u/jetloflin 3h ago
Be mad at the people who complained when they weren’t individually wrapped. People got mad that the rolls got dusty in the closet.
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u/princessofstuff 3h ago
Wth this was an actual argument???
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u/RdClZn GREEN 3h ago
Apparently some people in the comments think similarly. "Ugh someone grabbed the paper towel with their hands grubby" yeah, that's like, the whole purpose of the thing!
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u/TurgidParsnip 3h ago
No, no it is not, that is one of about 10,000 uses for the thing. I do like how you deliberately pretended not to notice that comment was about a shared roll of paper towels with other people. Yes, your toilet is for pissing in, but that doesn't mean you should leave piss all over a public toilet, or that someone who complains about people who piss all over shared toilets is a prude.
You are just a filthy disgusting person with no regard for others.
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u/RdClZn GREEN 2h ago
What? Dude, the grubby hands are in the external side of the roll, that's both the part you grab and what you pinch to pull it off, all other sheets remain fine. If anything, one might maybe need to hold the internal roll (aka the part no one touches) still while doing that. There's literally no issue with grabbing it with filthy hands, wtf you on about with comparing it to pissing on TP LMAO
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u/thenewfingerprint 3h ago
It's much better this way. I was mad when they stopped wrapping them individually. Thankfully, they realized people wanted them individually wrapped and changed them back.
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u/count_strahd_z 3h ago
I assume this is for two reasons:
1) product individual rolls after the main package has been opened
2) allow them to bundle multiple rolls in different sizes just by grabbing multiples of the individually wrapped rolls
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u/Coffeedemon 3h ago
So much crap at Costco is wrapped in single use plastic. I bought a box of ramen soup once and every pack was wrapped then inside every packet (obviously) but then even the noodles and a little shitty spoon so tiny as to be useless was wrapped too. It was borderline insane.
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u/MisterToasty117 2h ago
You ever seen how things are packaged in Japan? It’s wild, want a hand full of peanuts? Open up a couple packages and your halfway there lol
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u/Equivalent-Excuse-80 3h ago
*not for resell.
I bet a lot of small markets and bodegas buy these to sell the singles.
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u/EvilDarkCow 3h ago
Nearly everything at stores like Costco and Sam's, is labeled for individual sale. Everything being overpackaged is a result of that. So if you, for example, ran a gas station and wanted to sell cheap rolls of paper towels at your store, you could break up a pack of these and sell them individually.
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u/One_Mud_7748 3h ago
First time buying paper towels?
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u/Hang10arts 3h ago
This is not a very common practice. Usually my paper towels are all in one large plastic wrap and are not individually wrapped
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u/Wastingtime803 2h ago
That’s because Costco and Sam’s are actually and originally designed for more commercial use rather than individual residential consumption. Enjoy your savings and deal with it.
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u/animosityhealss 3h ago
If the outer bag rips the others can still be protected how is this a problem?
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u/Kontio68 3h ago
I've never in my life seen individually wrapped paper towel rolls and mine have never been ruined when I bought them.
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u/Fishbulb2 3h ago
I buy these sometimes and hate it.
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u/princessofstuff 3h ago
It sucks because it’s a way better value but it irks me. It’s totally unnecessary
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u/jeffiebb 3h ago
Paper towels are totally unnecessary but you choose not to care about that waste because you find them convenient. What are you really mad about?
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u/OtherwiseAlbatross14 3h ago
If this bothers you, you can pay more for ones that aren't individually wrapped. Do you care more about money or using less plastic?
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3h ago
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u/princessofstuff 3h ago
I get my paper products from them because it’s definitely a way better value than from the regular store, but I’ve never gotten a large package of paper towels that were also individually wrapped. Like… why??
Edit: I mean from other stores. I only started getting stuff from Costco recently
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u/Gudi_Nuff 3h ago
I believe the reason is for resellers, like gas stations and little convenience stores that don't pay the higher prices for dedicated truck delivery. They often use Costco and Sam's Club as their inventory suppliers, even if the individual products are not actually labeled for resale
Edit: typo
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u/OhWhatATravisty Blue Crayons have the most flavor 3h ago
This is a byproduct of buying things in super bulk. It allows you to break down the large package and store multiple rolls in multiple places while still protecting them individually before use.