I wonder why nobody ever thought of this before. HP recently won the WalMart Design Challenge to reduce environmental impact by selling their HP Pavilion dv6929wm Entertainment Notebook PC in its own messenger bag rather than in a box, thereby reducing packaging waste by 97%. The bag guards the laptop during shipping and are placed directly on the shelves that way. It’s a win for customers, for HP, and for the environment! The only downside is that you have to shop at WalMart to get one!

I would love to see more computer manufacturers start doing the same. I bet a lot of people would use a free bag branded with the company’s logo, simply because it’s free. With this idea, HP has even put Apple’s cultishly revered minimalist packaging to shame.

One thing I wonder about, though is the manufacturing of the messenger bag*. To be truly conscientious, you’d have to avoid using materials whose manufacturing process doesn’t pollute the environment more than the cardboard would. There are some pretty cool eco-friendly and free trade bags available that would be even better alternatives.

*EDIT: If I’d read the article more closely, I would’ve noticed that HP did indeed take this into consideration. All their bags are made of 100% recycled materials.

I also just learned, after reading and researching my son-in-law’s post about Apple’s eco-friendly efforts, that HP actually beats Apple on their environmental efforts.