Column: Time to think out the box and cut out the excessive, pointless packaging

Having recently moved house, the big blue shed is back on our itinerary, along with regular trips to B&Q.

This week saw two boxes delivered to our door.

The first was so big I genuinely thought my other half had ordered a double bass by mistake.

It was taller than me and so bulky I had to wrestle it to the floor and then lie in the recovery position for several minutes before tackling the contents. Okay, a slight exaggeration ...

And inside? Packaging.

Lots and lots and lots of the stuff.

My other half had ordered four flat-packed shelves which, in all honesty, you could have carted home on the bus.

Instead, they came wrapped in brown plastic packaging which we unrolled … and unrolled … and unrolled.

There was so much of the stuff it ran from the front door, down the hall, through into the dining room, and turned right into the kitchen to the back door.

Had we stretched it flat out, I suspect it would have gone into the garden and might even have reached our garage.

The extent of the packaging was just absurd, un-necessary and completely wasteful.

It was also rather pointless when we saw the state of the actual box which was so ripped and bashed and looked like it had replaced a punchbag in a boxing gym.

A second box also arrived.

It contained an item so small it would have fitted through our letter box.

The box it came in was so wide it was a neat fit getting it through the door without scraping my knuckles.

And inside, so much wrapping it took us some time to actually locate our purchase.

While the wrapping paper might come in handy - thanks Ikea - the box, along with all the other plastic stuff, was piled high in our spare room to create enough space to build the aforementioned shelves.

They are now in situ, I have one screw left over (naturally) and they don’t wobble (much) - so mission accomplished! Nick Knowles eat your hear out!

I quite like Ikea’s stuff even if I can’t pronounce the names of any of their products.

We all did those journeys down to Newcastle for a visit to their first UK base and then on to the Metro Centre. They felt like exotic days out.

And, of course, Ikea are not the only offenders when it comes to pointless packaging.

But all this stuff has to end up somewhere - and I don’t mean in my garage either.

The more we order online, the more cardboard we have to flatpack, and the more packaging we have to dump at the tip unless the company can say which items can be recycled.

My car is now full and a trip to the tip imminent - and that’s just from one delivery to one house.

Multiply that across the town or district and it adds up to lots of stuff to get rid off.

There has to be a better way of doing things.

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