• The New York Times, Friday, June 3, 2011 10:30 AM

That awful clamshell packaging, which requires a Dremel and a jackhammer to open, may finally be exiting. Don't slam the door on the way out. High oil prices (and plastics come from crude) are making manufacturers and retailers take a hard look at how they package little things behind Maginot Lines of hard plastic.

"With the instability in petroleum-based materials, people said we need an alternative to the clamshell," said Jeff Kellogg, VP for consumer electronics and security packaging at packaging company MeadWestvaco. Target has redesigned a lot of its packing and Wal-Mart Stores has pushed suppliers to make concentrates of things like laundry detergent. Home Depot is nixing clamshells for paperboard for some tools. Thank you, Big Oil.

Read the whole story at The New York Times »