a worker unloads boxes of merchandise at the amazon.com phoenix fulfillment center in phoenix, arizona. photographer joshua lottbloombergnov. 29 bloomberg amazon.com inc. and walmart stores inc. are prodding more manufacturers to change their packaging to cut waste and alleviate &ldquowrap rage,&rdquo the frustration felt when a product is difficult to open.the nation&rsquos largest online store and the world&rsquos biggest retailer have been pushing vendors, including procter & gamble co. and bluetooth headset maker plantronics inc., to eliminate excessive and cumbersome packing materials, such as hard plastic clamshell casings that enclose electronics and wire ties used to secure toys to cardboard backings.&ldquowe&rsquove gotten emails from customers who&rsquove purchased scissors in a clamshell, which would require another pair of scissors to open the package,&rdquo nadia shouraboura, amazon&rsquos vice president of global fulfillment, said in an interview.as much as a third of all consumer trash sent to landfills is estimated to be packaging, according to the environmental protection agency. that translates to more than 800 pounds of packaging waste each year per u.s. consumer.the problem becomes especially acute during the holidays. from thanksgiving to new year&rsquos day, household waste in the u.s. increases 25 percent, according to the epa.besides impregnable packaging, manufacturers have been criticized for not using enough recycled or sustainable materials. this year, greenpeace targeted toy companies hasbro inc., mattel inc., lego group and walt disney co. to stop using packaging derived from rain forests in indonesia. in response, the companies pledged to change their packaging practices.from 19 to 80,000amazon kicked off its &ldquofrustrationfree packaging&rdquo initiative in 2008 with 19 items from mattel and its fisherprice brand, microsoft corp. and memorycard maker transcend information inc. it has grown to 80,000 products this year, with more than 12 million items expected to ship under the program. amazon wants to at least triple that number next year.to help it reach that goal, the retailer is contacting more manufacturers that get poor customer feedback about their packaging. amazon is also sending engineers to help companies improve their designs.while reduced packaging can boost consumers&rsquo satisfaction, lower shipping costs and appeal to the environmentally conscious, companies are balancing those benefits with the need for packaging that still prevents theft and damage.changes at plantronicsken kannappan, plantronics&rsquo chief executive officer, asked the company&rsquos design team this year to take over packaging from the marketing department.some early solutions included removing user manuals from boxes, bulk shipping products to retailers and corporate customers without boxing items individually, and reshaping boxes into smaller form factors by replacing ac chargers with usb cables.&ldquoyou&rsquore looking at packaging and you&rsquore going, &rsquomy gosh, this is an area that&rsquos designed to be wasted,&rsquo&rdquo kannappan said in an interview. &ldquowe&rsquore trying not only to optimize our packaging to reduce waste but to fully rethink what packaging is and does.&rdquoby 2013, walmart plans to reduce packaging by 5 percent compared with 2008 levels, saving an estimated 3.4 billion annually.to do so, it&rsquos relying more on a sustainability packaging scorecard to determine which products to stock. walmart is also pushing manufacturers to create innovative design solutions.recyclable messenger baghewlettpackard co. won a walmart design challenge by wrapping a notebook computer in a protective messenger bag made of recycled materials. it replaces conventional styrofoam and cardboard packaging.the design reduced packaging by 97 percent and removed the equivalent of one out of every four trucks it previously needed to ship the computers to walmart and sam&rsquos club stores, the company said on its website.amazon, based in seattle, launched its initiative after chief executive officer jeff bezos recounted how he had spent his christmas struggling to open presents for his children.bezos described his &ldquowrap rage&rdquo as &ldquothe frustration we humans feel when trying to free a product from a nearly impenetrable package,&rdquo according to a letter he wrote to amazon&rsquos customers.as bezos shared his story with the staff, &ldquoeverybody in the room started to chime in with their own horror stories,&rdquo shouraboura said. &ldquoit was clear what we needed to do.&rdquoto contact the reporter on this story cliff edwards in san francisco at cedwards28@bloomberg.netto contact the editor responsible for this story tom giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net 
