designing for re-use

Lately i have been looking at all kinds of packaging and reading up on it a whole lot.Here's a great book Anders suggested,that i'm reading right now:

Designing for Re-Use

The Life of Consumer Packaging
By Tom Fisher and Janet Shipton

I pretty much ignored the reuse aspect of packaging until now even though its all around! This book began to change that. I think this is a very important aspect that one needs to know of before looking at designing packaging.

Packaging is ephemeral - its purpose is to be "wasted" once we've removed the product it contains. The re-use of packaging could have a significant effect on the quantity of material that enters the waste stream and the energy and consequently carbon that is expended in its production - every re-used item is another item not purchased. The book shows that by understanding the ways in which actions of this sort fit with everyday life, opportunities may be identified to enhance the potential for re-use through packaging design. The authors itemize the factors that affect the re-use of packaging, and analyse the home as a system in which objects are processed.