Wrap with Furoshiki

The Japanese are the undisputed masters of wrapping. Each purchase, no matter how plebeian, is likely to get wrapped and wrapped again, with great skill and beauty. Sometimes the value of the presentation exceeds the value of the item.

While this creates a most enjoyable aesthetic experience, it is the source of enormous waste. Mountains of discarded packaging threaten to overwhelm the landfills, and exact a heavy toll on the world's forests.

Now someone in the Japanese government's Ministry of Environment has a great solution that maintains the tradition with all the beauty and skill, but with reusable cloth wraps called Furoshiki.

Here is a great illustration of how just about anything can be wrapped with a simple square cloth. [link to full-size illustration]