HP Bags Wal-Mart's Reduced Packaging Award With Laptop In A Bag
by April Streeter, Gothenburg, Sweden 
on 09. 4.08
It's at least a bit ironic that Wal-Mart drove HP to come up with some seemingly significant packaging reductions for its Pavilion dv6929. After all, Wal-Mart IS still the place where you can leave the store with a 1-to-1 plastic bag-to-purchase ratio.
Consumer packaging reduction of 97 percent
Still, reduced packaging is a beloved theme here at TreeHugger, and both HP and Wal-Mart deserve a little respect. Wal-Mart offered the Home Entertainment Design Challenge - HP responded by cutting conventional packaging on the dv6929 an unbelievable 97 percent. Gone are the styrofoam inserts and enveloping cardboard. What's left are couple of plastic bags as the throwaway items, and the computer itself nestled in a reusable bag from 100 percent recycled fabric. Perhaps even cooler is the fact that HP can put three of the computers in one shipping box, which translates to a lot fewer pallets and fewer truck miles - HP says the supply chain packaging reduction is 65 percent due to the fact that it uses so-called SmartWay transport (photo of the laptops in their shipping box after the jump).
HP says that anyone purchasing the EPEAT silver-rated $798 laptop at a Sam's Club or a Wal-Mart can also "recycle" one old computer free of charge at the stores. Via ::PlanetArt
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Brilliant idea! Much more useful packaging, than the ridiculous package waste we're used to. The bag and laptop itself are pretty nice looking themselves.
I think HP (and other companies!) should offer similar packaging to ALL stores they sell to, not just Wal-Mart. Great idea, HP.
Actually it's not surprising at all...
Wal-Mart pioneered the idea of reduced packaging, although as a way to reduce cost. Take the humble deodorant can. They used to come in boxes until Wal-Mart realised it was a waste of money to make, a waste of gas to ship, and just generally a stupid idea as the metal can was the packaging and the customer took it home and threw the box anyway.
The total cost of the packaging came to about 3c and by removing it they let the manufacturer make an extra 1c, Wal-Mart made an extra 1c, and they took 1c off the price to the customer. So everyone won.
They then applied it to other products, shampoo etc.
While you can take as many plastic bags as you want, there would be a lot more waste packaging in the world if it wasn't for Wal-Mart.
They do good as well as bad.
I like it very much!
Wow! I love this idea! I wish they had it six months ago when I bought my HP DV... I still have not purchased a laptop bag because they can be pricey, and since I forked over a good $600 for the laptop, I am having a problem purchasing a bag for a good $60. Maybe I am just cheap!
Really cool!
Can't wait till they extend this to all the laptops...
And make the plastic bags used to wrap some of the items out of recyclable plastic, the way Ikea does with its packaging.
This is a spectacular idea. As long as you like the bag it comes in, it's a huge reduction in packaging. If you don't like the bag, and just want the laptop, you're left with a bag that's less recyclable than the cardboard they saved.
-----author replies
I thought about this, but almost any bag has some uses, if not for you personally, for others.
Kudos to Wal-mart for demanding efficiency from its suppliers and to HP for stepping up. As far as this quote:
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HP says that anyone purchasing the EPEAT silver-rated $798 laptop at a Sam's Club or a Wal-Mart can also "recycle" one old computer free of charge at the stores.
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I'll tell you how to recycle your computer free of charge. Download and install Ubuntu Linux and discover that your old hardware works perfectly well when it's not bogged down with windows. Ubuntu saved my 2001 computer from the trash heap that the Windows upgrade cycle had doomed it to. I think you'll like it so much that you'll consider dual-booting your new laptop as well.
I was glad to see Walmart offering canvas bags instead of plastic, too. But this idea is just brilliant. Now, on to the replacement parts...
I had to replace my power adapter for my laptop, and had to rip open that awful plastic. Can't it come in a small box?
Credit where credit is due. Excellent idea. Hope it spreads to other laptop makers.
Team with a solar bag company for a premium model and it might just get me to shell out some extra coin...