DonutReceipt.org

What: Paper Lottery Tickets
Why They're Wasteful:  Clearly lottery tickets are a waste of money, but they're also a waste of paper.  Trillions of paper tickets are sold worldwide each year.  If people want to waste there money on the lottery, fine by us, but retailers should give lucky gamers the option to have their tickets emailed instead of printed on paper.

What: Extreme takeout packaging
Why it's wasteful: Sometimes you need to get takeout, but takeout doesn't have to be an environemental hazard.  This order could have easily fit into 2 cardboard containers.  The sandwich bag, receipts and individual chip bag are all unnecessary.  

What: Dry cleaning
Why it's wasteful: The hangers can be reused.  But it's the tickets, the paper over the shoulders and the plastic that are egregiously wasteful. The tickets should be replaced with an email or text message, and the plastic and paper packaging should be eliminated.  If dry cleaners want to protect their customers' clothing from the elements, they should offer reusable garment bags. 

What: Appliance clocks
Why they're wasteful: When you want to know the time, where do you look first, your watch, your cellphone, or your coffee maker?  Tossing a clock onto a kitchen appliance may be a cheap and compelling option for some producers, but each of those superfluous clocks uses electricity 24 hours a day for the life of the product.

What: Drugstore chain receipt
Why it's wasteful: Printing a receipt for the transaction of one soda is clearly a waste in itself, but the egregious waste here is the size of the receipt. This receipt uses an inch of paper to record the transaction and a foot more to advertise an online survey.

What: Toilet paper packaging
Why it's wasteful: Say what you will about overly cushy toilet paper, but the indisputable waste here is the extra layer of packaging.  Instead of wrapping the 16 rolls in one sheet of plastic, this tp comes in subsets of four. That's four needless sheets of plastic per package. 

What: Standard paper size
Why it's wasteful: Why 8 1/2" x 11"? We think most would prefer a smaller size.  Cutting off just half an inch from the top and bottom could save millions of trees a year.

What: Single use condiments
Why they're wasteful: Sure, sometimes you need to take your ketchup on the run.  But do restaurants really need to give condiment packets to customers who are staying put?  At the very least, restaurants should provide an alternate receptacle near the trash for unused condiments (a solution that is catching on in Asia). 

What: Shampoo
Why it's wasteful: Check out that hole - it's gigantic.  Even if the shampooer consciously tries to use only a small amount, chances are too much will be dispensed

What: Paper phone books
Why it's wasteful: They are largely unnecessary relics, but they're still shipped to most every household once a year.