
A History of Individually Wrapped Cheese Slices (1979) [pdf] - magda_wang
http://www56.homepage.villanova.edu/david.nawrocki/Arnold%20Nawrocki%20IWS%20Paper.pdf
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greggman
This topic brings up the issue of wrapping in Japan. Japan is notorious for
having excessive wrapping. Individually wrapped cookies in a box with a
plastic tray to hold each cookie. The bottom half of the box is sealed with a
plastic tear off cover. The top of the box slides over. Then the entire box is
wrapped in paper. If you purchase if they will then put it in a branded paper
bag. If it's raining they will then put that paper bag in a plastic bag to
protect it from the rain. That's 6 levels of wrapping.

It's a cultural thing AFAICT. Sure people speak out once in while but it seems
unlikely to change without some major major concerted national PR effort
against it, getting celebrities, politicians, etc all on board pushing for
months or years and possibly even organizing boycotts until things change.
But, if someone wants to do their part of make a small dent here well, here's
a project you can try to take on.

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derefr
> some major major concerted national PR effort against it, getting
> celebrities, politicians, etc all on board pushing for months or years

Why do you need PR when the parties responsible for all this wrapping are
_corporations_? It’s not the dagashi down the street giving you six layers of
wrapping.

When big corporations are doing something you don’t like, you don’t use PR to
fix it. We’ve had plenty of PR about recycling in the US and it’s affected
_consumers_ plenty and _corporations_ not—at—all (except where the
responsibility ends up in the hands of individual consumers, like office
managers.)

No, the way to make _corporations_ change their behaviour, is to just make a
law about it. For example, a “consumer waste reduction corporate tax
incentive.” It’s the bottom line that says that extra wrapping is good (for
some reason); so it’s the bottom line that needs to be convinced otherwise.

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chrisseaton
> When big corporations are doing something you don’t like, you don’t use PR
> to fix it.

> No, the way to make corporations change their behaviour, is to just make a
> law about it.

But for example society in the UK and US (not sure where else) has basically
just decided that plastic straws are not acceptable, and major corporations
have made huge changes in a matter of months to remove them. That's much
faster than implementing a law.

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WorkLifeBalance
It's not altruism, they're just getting ahead of changes in the law.

The EU announced[1] they were looking at banning single use plastics. It was
after that announcement that lots of companies annoucned they were making
changes. By getting ahead of the law they can brand it as doing something they
didn't need to do. (Much like how UK phone companies announced they were
"abolishing roaming charges" because they did it a few months before it was an
enforced law.

They get to advertise their 'green' credentials while not moving themselves to
an uncompetitive position in the long term.

[1]
[https://www.ft.com/content/e1168020-627a-11e8-90c2-9563a0613...](https://www.ft.com/content/e1168020-627a-11e8-90c2-9563a0613e56)

~~~
chrisseaton
All of what you're describing sounds like PR to me. The fact of the matter is
Starbucks are reducing plastic straws and there is no law telling them to do
so.

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nerdponx
It's partly PR, and partly the ability to do things on your own terms. You do
not want regulations forced on you, that is bad for the bottom line. You need
to be in control. This is the story with self-regulation across industries.

~~~
dspillett
_> You do not want regulations forced on you, that is bad for the bottom
line._

Also, self regulation can be safer in terms of come-back.

Where under an external regulatory pressure a misstep might result in some
form of fine or at least a public outing. With self regulation many things can
be more easily wrapped up with "oops, butter fingers! sorry, won't happen
again" and all that might be more readily kept internal rather that having
some form of issue reporting requirement enforced by the regulations.

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vinceguidry
> a small 5# process cheese cooker.

Things like this make me wish I had a more rural lifestyle and had the space
for stuff like this. Cooking is great and all, you can do an _awful_ lot with
just tools you can store in a kitchen. But experimenting with _ingredients_ ,
and man, _tools_ is a whole 'nother level.

YouTube channels like Alex French Guy Cooking where he makes his own
mozzarella, worked with other YouTube makers to create the best pasta roller
ever made, a massive, amazing meat tenderizing mallet, and just the YouTube
makers in general almost have me wanting to rent my one bedroom condo out so I
can go live out in the sticks and buy cheap tools like a small 5# process
cheese cooker, tear off my shirt and Hulk-transform into a mad scientist.

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cwkoss
The post scarcity economy is going to be so cool.

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mrhappyunhappy
If plastic waste on cheese slices bothers you from environmental perspective,
please do not google Japanese candy / sweets as those come individually
wrapped, packaged in more plastic, inside a box, wrapped by plastic. When I
was first introduced to Japanese sweets I could not wrap, tehee, my head
around the reasons for why this is happening.

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sasaf5
AFAIK the individual wrapping is for sharing the snacks. In east asia you get
chastised if you buy a snack for yourself ("are you gonna eat it alone?").
That explains the little plastic trays under the cookies too. Just open the
paper box and slide off the tray in front of your friends. But then, isn't it
ironic that this group-centered practice leads to a selfish, polluting
outcome?

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alliecat
I can't comment on cheese slices, but as somebody who lives alone and has an
appetite resembling a small rodent, I very much appreciate individually
wrapped perishables, especially when said wrapping is recyclable/compostable.

I throw out a lot less when I can buy large quantities of smaller "perishable
units" at once, vesus shopping little and often.

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gdfasfklshg
Given the problems with plastic waste how can anyone justify individually
wrapped cheese slices? (Constructive answers only please. I am genuinely
interested in seeing if there are any arguments in favour.)

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Hnrobert42
Individually wrapped cheese slices could lead to less spoilage.

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Doxin
Except in practice individual slices all go bad at (roughly) the same time. If
a block of cheese goes moldy you can just slice off the mold and keep going.
Cheese goes bad outside-in, pre-sliced cheese has way more surface area.

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joezydeco
Processed cheese dries out _very_ rapidly when exposed to the dry air inside a
refrigerator.

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Doxin
So does nonprocessed cheese. You'll want to store it in something nonpermeable
like modern cheese paper, or a small plastic bag.

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anonu
This is a fascinating history. The trial and process of innovation here is one
any engineer can appreciate. Unfortunately individually wrapped cheese goes
against two things I've removed or reduced in my life: 1. Processed foods 2.
Plastics.

