Today we’re thrilled to announce a brand new editorial series on Inhabitat that explores the past, present, and future of packaging design, hosted by Eco Chick founder and green journalist Starre Vartan! Each year households in the U.S. send over 270 million tons of trash to the landfill, and much of this waste consists of materials used to wrap, ship, and package products. Fortunately, there’s a plethora of ways to make packaging more environmentally sustainable — stay tuned as our Packaging the Future series explores natural solutions to the packaging problem, innovative new approaches to creating eco-efficient packaging, and the future of sustainable packaging design.

Starre Vartan is founder and editor-in-chief of Eco-Chick and author of The Eco-Chick Guide to Life (St. Martin’s Press). A green living expert, she is managing editor of Greenopia and a contributor to The Huffington Post.