Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle During the Holidays

In the latter months of the year, the holiday season brings lots of gifts, packages, and deliveries. One of the best ways to spread holiday cheer and connect with one another is to reduce, reuse, and recycle packaging material. Doing so will benefit the gift that keeps on giving—our planet.

The question is, what’s the best way to reduce, reuse, and recycle the materials used for gifting? First, it’s important to know which gifting material is recyclable and which is not recyclable. 

Continue reading “Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle During the Holidays”

An Ode to Packaging Engineers

Comic by Ed Himelblau.

In my second or third year as a graduate student, I had to ship some microfluidic masters to a collaborator in Kenya. The masters were extremely fragile and took me several days in a cleanroom gown to make. I was horrified at having to send them on a perilous journey overseas, and somewhat flabbergasted that they made it to Nairobi whole and well. And yet, every day thousands of delicate items zoom around the world and arrive at their destinations in one piece. How?

A couple months ago, I visited the lab where our packaging engineers (yes, that’s a thing) do their work. Here’s what I learned. Continue reading “An Ode to Packaging Engineers”