Tama Samus 🏳️‍⚧️✨💖

Is there a term for when you buy a consumable product, but you can't use a certain percentage of the product due to the company's packaging?

I bought a squeeze-bottle of mayo since the method of use was easier (just squeeze and done, rather than use a spoon or knife), and the price was the same for the same amount in a jar or squeeze bottle, so it's not that I'm getting more or less for different packaging.

However, I've come to realize that when you get near the end of the squeeze bottle, you can't do anything to get that last 10% out due to the narrow neck, where I definitely could use a spatula in a jar.

"Wastage" came to mind, but I feel that is more along the lines of "it spoiled" rather than "I can't access it", but technically, that's still waste.

I'm just wondering if there's a way to define "wastage through design" or something like that

May 5, 2024 at 4:01pmWeb
Show threadFinnley DolfinMay 5, 2024
@Tama23 "packaging inefficiency" or "packaging waste."
Show threadvxoMay 5, 2024

@Tama23 this gets really bad with conditioner sometimes, thicker formulas don't want to come up to the bottle neck so you can use them. I usually grab the bottle by the base with the cap securely closed and sling it to centrifuge the contents to the top of the bottle

(the sound it makes if you lose your grip on the bottle and it lands in the tub can wake the actual dead)

Show threadTama Samus 🏳️‍⚧️✨💖May 5, 2024

@vxo I was literally doing this with the mayo bottle, too. I would definitely want to make sure that container lid is sealed...

I'm sorry for those who you awoke with the clattering conditioner bottle 😅

Show threadFinnley DolfinMay 5, 2024

@vxo @Tama23

Many years ago on I think it was "Beyond 2000", we were promised containers which were hydrophobic so every last drop would come out.

Show threadTama Samus 🏳️‍⚧️✨💖May 5, 2024
@FinnleyDolfin @vxo I recall seeing a video of a hydrophobic spoon being demonstrated so that honey wouldn't stick to it. We haven't gotten the future we thought we would 😅
Show threadAsbjørn UlsbergMay 6, 2024

@FinnleyDolfin @vxo @Tama23 I came here to post this comment. I suppose the reason we haven’t gotten hydrophobic containers is because:

1. Containers would cost more to produce.
2. Less waste means less sales.

Thus, there’s no incentive for producers to start using hydrophobic containers. Sad.

Show threadvxoMay 6, 2024
@bitbear @FinnleyDolfin @Tama23 heck, I'd be happy with those just coming in this kind of package. It's essentially a bag with a lightweight screw cap thing, and it can stand up. Unfortunately, I don't think the multi layer plastic pouch portion of it is recyclable.
Show threadAsbjørn UlsbergMay 6, 2024

@vxo @FinnleyDolfin @Tama23 Yeah, that looks quite like the container for purée products from Ella's Kitchen. Not very recyclable, but at least possible to squeeze and roll until 99.9% empty.

https://www.ellaskitchen.co.uk/shop/the-red-one-fruit-smoothie

The Red One | Baby Smoothie

The Red One fruit baby smoothie, full of organic goodness + yummy tastes for your little one to enjoy!

Ella's Kitchen
Show threadvxoMay 6, 2024
@bitbear @FinnleyDolfin @Tama23 yeah I've seen it used for stuff like that too. When it's emptied out, it's a rather satisfyingly flat lightweight little piece. I'm guessing the twist off cap might be recyclable, I haven't seen if it's got a plastic type code on it. The part that's welded to the pouch is kinda mostly air space.
Show threadMaria BustillosMay 5, 2024

@Tama23

The guilt eventually persuaded me to slice the container in half with a blade when I near the end (toothpaste etc. too)

Show threadTama Samus 🏳️‍⚧️✨💖May 5, 2024
@maria that *was* a thought, I didn't want to have to resort to that, but it *is* an option
Show threadMaria BustillosMay 5, 2024

@Tama23

weirdly satisfying, recommended

Show threadHans van ZijstMay 5, 2024
@Maria Bustillos @Tama 🏳️‍⚧️✨💖 The Dutch are seen as cheap, so obviously we have something for that 😉

The "flessenlikker" ("bottle licker"):



https://www.learndutch.org/beginners/strange-dutch-products-the-flessenlikker/
Hans van Zijst - [email protected]

Show threadTama Samus 🏳️‍⚧️✨💖May 5, 2024
@hans this is *beautiful*!
Show threadMaria BustillosMay 5, 2024

@hans

this is PHENOMENAL

(it's not cheap to take care to not be wasteful!!!!!!!!!!)

Show threadDiego Elio PettenòMay 5, 2024

@Tama23 oh gosh, I don't know of a term but it's something that's on the back of my mind for the past fifteen years, no joke!

https://flameeyes.blog/2009/05/20/the-importance-of-little-things/?mtm_campaign=social&mtm_kwd=mastodon

The importance of little things

Foreword of warning: this post might sound totally unrelated to Gentoo; it really can be meant as a…

Flameeyes's Weblog
Show threadYsaMay 5, 2024

@Tama23 I don't know a term for that (you're right that there should be one!), but FWIW, we recently bought a set of little gadgets called...FlipIt, maybe?...that help actually get the last of a bottle's contents out, and so far they seem to work.

(I have five or six bottles of discontinued face wash that I was clinging to 'cause I wanted the last dregs, and I'm glad to be able to get at it now.)

Show threadTama Samus 🏳️‍⚧️✨💖May 6, 2024

@ysabet ooh, thank you! I went looking them up, and I realized, the squeeze bottle I'm using is actually *designed* to stand like that, which I thought was pretty neat!

... but it's got Mayo in it. It's not exactly a fast-moving fluid. And once a single hole pokes it's way through the mayo, suddenly all the squeezing in the world can't help

Thus, my original post 🤣

Show threadYsaMay 6, 2024
@Tama23 ...yeah, mayo is a tricky one.
Show threadGinnikinMay 6, 2024

@Tama23
I have good results doing the bottle cap-down on the table or counter. It's noisy but it seems to work.

I think the best way to get it all would be vibration, like with ketchup. For some reason, my brain is trying to come up with a concerted truck's rolling barrel and something something, and yeah, no, brain.

@ysabet