SHORT TAKES : Compact Disc Boxes Targeted

A coalition of artists, executives and record companies are urging makers of compact discs to “Ban the Box”--the disposable plastic and paper packaging in which most CDs are sold.

So far, Olivia Newton-John, Kris Kristofferson and The Grateful Dead, along with Rhino Records, Fantasy Records and Rykodisc, have lent their names to the group, which is calling for an end to the environmentally damaging packaging.

“Our goal is to encourage development of a plan, supported by labels and retailers, that will result in an end to disposable packaging in the first half of 1991,” said Robert Simonds, chief financial officer of Rykodisc and a member of the Ban the Box coalition. About 250 million CDs are expected to be sold in this year in the United States, the only country still to package CDs in the 6-by-12-inch boxes.