Clamshells have not only been voted the worst design ever, they’ve spawned the term “wrap rage” as exemplified by comedian Larry David’s attempt to open one. Despite all this, products inside clamshells line the shelves of retail stores and supermarkets.
Product packaging generates more plastic waste than any other industry. In Europe it accounts for 59 per cent of all plastic waste by weight. In the United States that is likely closer to 65 per cent, experts say. The global packaging market is a U.S. $700-billion-a-year industry and growing at 5.6 per cent per year. Plastics account for one-third of this, making packaging the largest single market for U.S. plastics.
Clamshells, like most packaging, are single-use plastics and while technically recyclable, few are recycled in the U.S. That needs to change quickly if product manufacturers and the plastics industry are to meet their commitments to recycle or recover all plastics and greatly increase their use of recycled plastic in packaging.
Thomas Jake Lunsford is credited with inventing the clamshell, although he called it a “Separable Packaging and Display System” when he filed for a patent on September 15, 1976. Clamshells look a bit like their namesake as they are made from two identical plastic “shells” that fit around the product and hinge on one side. When the sides are pressed together, snaps form a seal, some of them harder to unfasten than others.
Clamshell packaging remains popular with retailers because the product is visible on both sides, it can be hung or freestanding, and it’s harder to shoplift since the package is bigger than the product inside. It’s much lighter than cardboard or other alternatives—saving energy during transport—cheaper to make, and more durable. The food industry accounts for more than 60 percent of all clamshell packaging. “There’s a huge variety of clamshell and blister packaging, “ says Sara Greasley, who runs a popular blog about packaging and works in the industry.
Blister packs are usually a clear bubble of plastic mounted on a piece of cardboard. Batteries are still sold this way. But the terms are often used interchangeably, so it can be confusing, Greasley said. The type of clamshell packaging used is usually driven by the retailers, particularly volume buyers like the club stores (i.e. Costco) who have specific packaging requirements, she said. For example packaging may have to withstand shaking, crushing, and dropping tests to ensure there’s no damage.