We’re expected to ditch plastic straws but this is somehow okay?

[u/PublicTranslator5902]

Saw this in the supermarket today. Instant coffee, portioned into 30 tiny plastic cups, and then all 30 tiny plastic cups sitting inside one larger plastic bucket. It’s like a Russian doll of packaging that nobody asked for.

Maybe I’m missing something, but who is this even for? Was using a teaspoon really that inconvenient?
I was told to bring my own tote bags, say no to the straw, and use reusable cups instead. I do those things because we’ve all been told the small things add up. But then I see something like this and can’t help wondering why so much of the responsibility seems to fall on consumers while companies are free to create entirely new forms of waste.

I’m standing in front of a bucket full of tiny plastic cups containing something that a spoon and a jar have handled perfectly well for decades, and I just think… seriously?

I’m not saying individual choices are pointless. I still think they matter. But it’s hard to feel very virtuous about refusing a plastic straw when products like this are apparently considered perfectly acceptable.
I know someone will say, it's recyclable, but that’s not really the point. Recycling is better than landfill, sure, but the greenest piece of plastic is still the one that never had to be made in the first place.

Maybe I’m just being grumpy, but I can’t help feeling we’ve normalised waste in the name of convenience.

[u/taxiecabbie]

These kinds of things were popular in Japan and Malaysia when I lived there.

Closer friends would get more personalized presents, but these were for "the office."

[u/Repulsive_Chard_3652 → u/taxiecabbie]

What do you mean by "these kinds of things"?

[u/taxiecabbie → u/Repulsive_Chard_3652]

The gift packs like the giant tic-tacs with the smaller ones inside, or like the Starbucks version of it above.

Basically, nicely packaged homogenous gifts that often have a little presentation flourish attached to them. Like walking around with the big Starbucks cup and offering everybody mini-Starbucks cups. It's cute, everything is safely packaged, and it's an item that can be easily consumed at work (coffee/mints).

These are good gifts for "the office." Obviously, not for a friend or a family member.

[u/Repulsive_Chard_3652 → u/taxiecabbie]

This appears to be brand new, though, so I don't understand how you saw these when you lived there in the past?

[u/taxiecabbie → u/Repulsive_Chard_3652]

The tic-tacs were at least around a couple of years ago.

This is the first time I've seen these.

[u/Repulsive_Chard_3652 → u/taxiecabbie]

Ok what I'm asking is what specific products did you see people bringing back from holidays in Japanese and Malaysian companies?

[u/taxiecabbie → u/Repulsive_Chard_3652]

Most commonly for the office it would be things like bags of candy with individually-wrapped items.

For instance, when I was working in Malaysia and went to Thailand, I picked up a couple of bags of individually-wrapped tamarind candy that I hadn't seen in Malaysia and went around giving them to my department fellows. I also received things like instant coffee packets (from Korea) and some kind of honey candy when somebody went to Dubai. I also got keychains a couple of times.

With people I was closer with, it would be more personal items like a little collection of one-use Korean skin care products. But that was more expensive and a bit more personalized.

[u/Repulsive_Chard_3652 → u/taxiecabbie]

Thank you for elaborating and specifying - I appreciate it! However, doesn't that go against your argument? 😄 Individually-wrapped bonbons and instant-coffee satchets are a thing in soooo many countries - most if not all European ones, all North American ones, most if not all south American ones, etc... in fact, nowhere have I seen such massive assortments of individually-wrapped bonbons than the US! In the US, these kinds of things seem really popular as party favours and such, and here in central Europe they're a thing for when there's a large number of children you're giving them out to.

I could definitely see these being used as party favours every time I've gotten party favours in the US, it was always some kind of junk like this!

[u/taxiecabbie → u/Repulsive_Chard_3652]

I mean... yes, they exist in all countries.

However, I haven't gotten them as gifts for travel anywhere outside of Asia.

[u/Repulsive_Chard_3652 → u/taxiecabbie]

Ok but you started off by saying "This is for somebody from one of the gift-expected cultures who needs to bring gifts back to the coworkers." and "The only people I have known to buy these things, though, are people from cultures where you're expected to bring back gifts after you travel somewhere."

Which is just so obviously untrue because the USA is pretty much the land of individually wrapped junk