SHORT TAKES : Salvo on Longbox CD Packaging

In response to some consumer outrage directed at compact disc packaging, an environmental group is encouraging consumers to remove the “longbox” packaging after purchase and leave the empty carton at the store.

A spokesman for Ban the Box Coalition said today the action is intended to force retailers to contend with the mounting, non-recyclable waste generated by the 6-by-12-inch paperboard and blister pack containers. Ban the Box estimates that 250 million CDs will be sold in the United States this year, generating more than 23 million pounds of garbage.

The consumer action is the latest volley in the battle against the CD packaging. In May, the recording group Raffi refused to renew its contract with MCA until the record company agreed not to place any of the groups’s CDs in longbox packaging.