Sony Pictures' new packaging reduction effort is being heralded by a mall cop.
Starting with the May 19 DVD release of Paul Blart: Mall Cop, all of Sony's standard-definition, single-disc, domestic releases will come in DVD cases with 20 percent less plastic, paper with 30 percent post consumer content and no cardboard outer sleeves. To make the cases with less plastic, parts of the case walls are cut out.
By switching to the lower-impact packaging, Sony Pictures expects to reduce its annual carbon emissions by 2 million pounds by the end of the year.
Changes to packaging for DVDs and CDs obviously has the potential to lead to widespread impacts due to the sheer volume of discs being produced, shipped and sold.
Media companies have been testing the waters for more sustainable packaging with releases for
Wall-E and
Weeds (each of which focuses on a different meaning of the word "green"), among other titles. Packaging efforts range among reducing the amount of plastic to integrating more recycled content or just cutting packaging down to the bare minimum of what's needed.
Greener packaging is also taking a foothold in the
music business, and even made it all the way to the
Grammy awards, though the Ditty Bops' recycled paper and soy ink packaging didn't take home a win.
