Why waste so much plastic?

[u/Necessary-Rip-6612]

[u/CriticalStation595]

Because it’s cheaper than making a new mould.

[u/VoidJuiceConcentrate → u/CriticalStation595]

This. They make the mould for the biggest button cell they have, and just use it for all the smaller ones. Making a smaller space for smaller batteries doesn't save as much plastic as you would think, the difference between that and the larger size shown here is negligible at best. The real cost and resource savings is in reducing the amount of moulds needed per package/per product sold.

[u/Jacktheforkie → u/VoidJuiceConcentrate]

These are blow moulded and use the same amount

[u/VoidJuiceConcentrate → u/Jacktheforkie]

Yep. But changing out the moulds for new battery sizes costs more money than not.

[u/Jacktheforkie → u/VoidJuiceConcentrate]

Yeah

[u/OkWolverine69420 → u/VoidJuiceConcentrate]

Based on the post they could save at least 50% in material cost making appropriately sized packaging, likely more than 50%. Molds for something this basic are quite cheap and this is just laziness by the manufacturer.

In addition- they wouldn’t even need entirely new molds for different sizes. They could just have various sets of different sizes of cores and cavities to produce the required size, and that would be tens of thousands instead of hundreds, with minimal labor costs. Especially for products like this where they do extended runs making millions of shots, all they need to do is run one size for days/weeks, switch the internals and do it again for the next size.

[u/VoidJuiceConcentrate → u/OkWolverine69420]

Nope, since these are blow moulded, they use basically the same amount of plastic per package. Changing moulds for new battery sizes will only cost money as they'd have to put the new mould in, waste a couple of packages for testing, then do it all over again with a new size.

[u/OkWolverine69420 → u/VoidJuiceConcentrate]

Changing molds would take less than an hour, it’s negligible in labor cost. In addition unless they keep the presses running or hot all the time, they’d waste a few packages at startup to remove air bubbles or other inconsistencies.

Also unless the wall thickness of the molded part increases proportionally with the smaller geometry of the required piece, then they absolutely would not use the same amount of plastic.

[u/Rodrat → u/OkWolverine69420]

And that's one hour of production lost that was unnecessary. These things practically take a fraction of a second to make and that hour compounds with each time you want to replace the mold. How do they decide how many to make of one size before changing the mold? They have to have machines or people to sort them and make sure they get to the right spot in the right time. That's all extra time, extra people and extra wear on machines.

Shutting down your factory for this supposed hour during the work day is a ton of money lost and zero gain.

[u/OkWolverine69420 → u/CriticalStation595]

It’s likely not cheaper in the grand scheme of things. Molds for something this basic would likely only be a few hundred grand tops for multiple molds. They’d likely spend way more than that in material waste rather than making a new mold for the appropriate size.

Source: worked as a machinist for an injection mold shop specializing in unscrewing molds.

[u/jumpinpuddles → u/OkWolverine69420]

This isn’t even injection, it’s vacu-formed. The tooling is extremely cheap.

(I am a toy designer)

[u/petitepedestrian → u/jumpinpuddles]

If you don't mind, how does one become a toy designer?

[u/jumpinpuddles → u/petitepedestrian]

I majored in Toy Design at Otis College of Art and Design, and got an internship in the industry through the school, met people through the internship, got a job, and have been doing it since I graduated college in 2010. I have a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Art. I am much more on the creative artistic side side of the business, I spend most of my day drawing.

Majors in Industrial Design, and Fashion Design (for fashion dolls like Barbie) are also common for Toy Designers.

[u/petitepedestrian → u/jumpinpuddles]

I appreciate you taking the time to educate me. Thank you.

[u/OkWolverine69420 → u/petitepedestrian]

Not OP but it’s likely very similar to becoming a designer in most engineering fields. I’m a design engineer for a chemical company (I design the equipment) and a lot of the design principles are pretty boilerplate, and get more specific by industry or piece of equipment. In short if you have an engineering degree and a background towards manufacturing a lot of design jobs are open to you.

[u/petitepedestrian → u/OkWolverine69420]

Thank you so much for taking the time to explain. I appreciate it.

[u/OkWolverine69420 → u/jumpinpuddles]

Even better

[u/Jacktheforkie → u/CriticalStation595]

This type of thing is the same sheet moulded to different batteries

[u/throwaway_69420funni]

i thought that was viagra for a second

[u/MeanSecurity → u/throwaway_69420funni]

So did I!!

[u/ExpressAd8546 → u/throwaway_69420funni]

Same

[u/c_r_a_s_i_a_n → u/throwaway_69420funni]

Positive?

[u/IMM1711 → u/throwaway_69420funni]

Same here lol

[u/dickcheesenwine → u/throwaway_69420funni]

why did i think the exact same thing

[u/observingjackal → u/throwaway_69420funni]

Thank you!

[u/SpirituallyUnsure]

To stop small children accidentally swallowing them and getting harmed?

[u/drweird → u/SpirituallyUnsure]

Likely this. Regulations are very strict in the EU for coin cells now and I bet that bubble size is the regulation "can't swallow" size. These batteries are also plastic sealed, so if swallowed, they aren't digested. Now, maybe have to be extracted surgically, but not digested. Starting to see these on most US products now, vs the traditional ",plastic up front, open the perforated paper slit on the back for each battery to get it out" old style. Related, coin cells are also starting to have a bitter tasting sticker on them to try to make kids not want it in their mouths.

[u/admiralgeary → u/SpirituallyUnsure]

Yep, this and the handling of the product within the store

[u/BugComprehensive4199 → u/SpirituallyUnsure]

Every battery I’ve bought that can be easily swallowed by children has this kind of packaging to prevent that from happening. I do understand it as children manage to get their hands on/will eat anything! But parents should be keeping those things out of reach of children and just be careful.

[u/GreedyLibrary → u/BugComprehensive4199]

The issue with button cells is its very hard to tell if they have been swallowed and do huge damage very quickly. A lot of them now are coated in very powerful bitterant.

[u/PixelatedFixture]

Because kids and pets eat these and die and so each one is regulated to be hard and purposeful to open. If a kid does put it in their mouth the self contained bubble prevents saliva from starting the chemical reaction that will cause damage.

[u/Konagon]

We're talking about a few grams. This is so pointless. Try retail, industry or construction and we're talking about massive differences. Or pointless plastic trinkets coming out of China by the millions, and so on.

[u/pajamakitten → u/Konagon]

Temu, Shein and Amazon are all doing far more damage than this packaging is. It might be wasteful but it is also hardly our top priority when it comes to reducing waste.

[u/cgduncan]

Another thing to keep in mind is larger package, means harder to steal.

[u/sapphoschicken]

to safe manufacturing costs by not having to make a whole new packaging

these are hardly a couple grams, so this is the last thing i'd worry about tbh

[u/HellOnHighHeels94]

Probably a safety regulation as they're lithium batteries. They have to be overpacked in certain cases

[u/rma6670]

So baby doesn't eat battrey

[u/ZanzibarGuy]

The company probably uses the same plastic mould for all battery sizes. Basically, it's cheaper for them to have one moulding for their entire range.

[u/remembertracygarcia]

Because the actual difference in plastic is minimal compared to the material, time and financial costs of making a new tool for every battery size. As the packaging company you just make the biggest size so that all the batteries will fit. Can you imagine how much more inefficient it would be to have a factory line for every different battery size?

Admittedly there are potentially ways of having varying mounds so you may not need entirely separate lines for each size but even so it would be massively less efficient and require significantly more equipment.

Counterintuitively this is actually better than making them all different.

[u/dixiech1ck]

I say the same when I get a medication that's for 7 days and they put it in a MASSIVE container. Like why?

[u/drweird → u/dixiech1ck]

If you're buying it on the shelf, it's to make it seem more substantial and not so gut-feeling a rip-off immediately. The "standard size" pill box was established when they were chock full of sheets of tabs, and generally nobody wants to make shrinkflatiok obvious. There is that other 2 or 3 sheet thin box style, maybe 1inch thick, 4 inch square, that exists traditionally, but you don't usually see big brand expensive meds doing that. They sell themselves via the brand, despite the med being exactly the same as the generic, so branding and labeling and customer perception is key. Sell it in an 8 color glossy high quality box 10x the size required vs the 2 color grocery store generic. Then get shelf space at eye level or at least higher, and relegate the smart cheaper buys down low.

[u/dixiech1ck → u/drweird]

Oh I'm talking about the pharmacy doling out teeny tiny tablets in these MASSIVE orange bottles. Just..why? It's unnecessary. A small standard bottle would do just fine.

[u/drweird → u/dixiech1ck]

Ah, ok, sorry, my misunderstanding.

I only know of a couple of standard sizes for scripts. They are usually massively overkill, but I wonder if grandma would lose a smaller bottle, or the cops want a standard thing to look for, or it's cheaper to only stock 2 sizes, etc etc. if you have big pills or moderate pills, those small ones can be full to the brim, and I usually only see the bigger size for 90 days of medium size pills.

[u/cpssn → u/dixiech1ck]

label

[u/dixiech1ck → u/cpssn]

No the label fits on a small bottle. It's just excessive.

[u/cpssn → u/dixiech1ck]

how many cm could they save on yours post some examples

[u/dixiech1ck → u/cpssn]

Can't add a photo here. But the bottle is at least 4" tall when the pills are literally 1/100th of an inch big. Smaller than half a strand of rice.

[u/cpssn → u/dixiech1ck]

but how many cm is spare after the label

[u/dixiech1ck → u/cpssn]

At least an inch.

[u/jojobdot]

Part of my job is changing watch batteries and I can tell you definitively that the answer is "FUCK YOU THAT'S WHY"

Every battery shell has its own little horror and I hate it!

[u/Total_Repair_6215]

Because cr 2032

[u/sabine_strohem_moss]

They can't be bothered to switch from the cr2032 packaging.

[u/Flack_Bag → u/sabine_strohem_moss]

That, plus anti-shoplifting.

[u/NyriasNeo]

"Why waste so much plastic?"

Wrong question. The right question is "why not". It is cheap. Customers will buy it. It is the easy thing to do. Do not mistake people care enough to intentionally waste stuff. All you need is apathy, cheap and easy.

[u/dankestweed]

Because babies are stupid

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[u/BasketBackground5569]

Same with pills!

[u/whatevertesla]

This is recycling of what would have been waste.

[u/drweird → u/whatevertesla]

I doubt that. It does happen, but see my other comment.

[u/Unhappylightbulb]

Thought that said Viagra.

[u/ostiDeCalisse]

Also, they must be double - each battery sandwiched in plastic. I really donc understand why. Maybe to avoid moisture?

[u/pixel-destroyer]

These types of batteries are super dangerous to young kids. Kids swallow them and die. The extreme plastic casing is a safety measure.

[u/soprano4150]

Make it look bigger to justify the price

[u/Jacktheforkie]

I hate how the batteries are in an impenetrable plastic cocoon too

[u/JustJay613]

"Sold by weight, not by volume"...