Environment Minister Amedi Camara said that nearly all of the plastic package waste is not "collected and is found in the natural environment - land and sea - where they are sometimes ingested by marine species and livestock, causing their death".

BBC: Mauritania bans plastic bag use

For example, buyers of iPads are willing to pay an exorbitant price for the package of plastic and metal that make up an iPad because that package of plastic and metal can do quite amazing things compares to other packaging of plastic and metal.

FORBES: Don't Just Watch University Of Phoenix Rise From Ashes Of Four-Year Lows

That market was also destined to end up on the commodity pile, so Endoh in 1994 assigned 50 researchers to a challenging task: Cut plastic chip package costs by one-third.

FORBES: It's all in the packaging

That same year, she says, Armstrong gave her a small plastic-wrapped package after a race in The Netherlands and asked her to dispose of it.

CNN: SHARE THIS

For an Intel Pentium II, the package is a square of plastic 1.2 inches on a side and as thick as a silver dollar.

FORBES: It's all in the packaging

For an Intel Pentium II, the package is a square of plastic about 30mm on a side and about as thick as a gold Krugerrand.

FORBES: It's all in the packaging

Not only does the package include inserts for cutting through the plastic, but it highlights the product's unique presentation controls by offering a rotating plastic pod that functions as a hard carrying case once the product is unpacked.

ENGADGET: Switched On: The 2006 Switchies -- Portable Products

PocketZip has some up-and-coming competition from a company called Dataplay , whose tiny disks, also spinning around in a plastic cartridge, will pack 250 MB and 500 MB into a package about the size of a quarter.

FORBES: Ten O'Clock Tech: Mini Megabytes