Marketers usually boast about what they have added to their products. Increasingly, though, they are bragging about what they are taking out — by cutting down on packaging and its impact on the environment.

Procter & Gamble, for example, has introduced rigid tubes for Crest toothpaste that can be shipped and displayed on shelves without boxes. Aveda, a beauty products company, is expected soon to roll out a men』s care line that is packaged in bottles made of 95 percent recycled materials.

And Coca-Cola plans to cut the plastics in its Dasani water bottles by 7 percent over the next five years, just by tweaking the shape of the bottle and the cap. 「Waste of any kind is inefficiency, and inefficiency equals cost,」 said Scott Vitters, Coca-Cola』s director of sustainable packaging.

The number of companies making such changes is growing sharply, as they try to reduce costs and address growing environmental concerns.

Their ranks are expected to grow more, because of Wal-Mart Stores. Wal-Mart, the world largest retailer, has begun pushing its 66,000 vendors to get rid of excess packaging.

Wal-Mart has promised to become 「packing neutral」 by 2025. That means that, through recycling, reusing or perhaps even composting, it will try to recover as much material as was used in the packing that flows through its stores.

To reach that goal, it is enlisting the help of vendors to cut back on their packaging － for the products themselves and by using less shrink wrap or cardboard for shipping.

Many companies began tinkering with their packing long before Wal-Mart did. They do not expect consumers to buy their products purely for the package － but they are hoping that 「greener」 packages will give them a competitive edge over similar products, even as they hold down costs.

Este Lauder, for one, spent more than a year working with aluminum smelters to design tubes and caps made from 80 percent recycled aluminum. Much of the packaging of its holiday gift boxes is now made from recycled paper. And its Origins line is expected to soon ship only in folding cartons made with clean energies.

Environmental groups are playing their part, too. Four years ago, Environmental Defense, which was instrumental in getting McDonald』s to give up plastic foam clamshell packages in 1991, devised a calculator that enables package designers to compare the weight, recycled content and performance traits of about 20 materials.

「Packaging offers major opportunities for reducing energy use and green house gases, and for saving the $4 billion worth of materials that now ends up in landfills,」 said Matt Hale, director of the agency』s Office of Solid Waste.

Nestl Waters North America, which owns Poland Spring, Deer Park and other brands, said that it had saved about nine million kilograms of paper in the last five years by using narrower labels on many bottles.

It recently switched to clear caps that are more easily recycled. And it is rolling out half-litter bottles that contain 12.5 grams of plastics, among the lightest water bottles around.

Many of the easy changes to packages have already been made. Beverage cans are much lighter than they were 10 years ago, and most use recycled aluminum. Deodorants are rarely packed in separate boxes now. Shipping cartons contain large percentage of recycled fiber.

Consumer behavior presents its own challenges, since smaller packages can appear to be more expensive than those with more packaging.

Coke recently redesigned its classic contour bottles to be lighter and more impact-resistant. The new bottle looks smaller. 「Our challenge is persuading consumers that they are getting the same volume in a better bottle,」 Mr. Vitter said.

And sometimes, aesthetics will trump environmentalism in the end, anyway. That recycled aluminum that Este Lauder fought so hard for does not shine up well, and some of the brands refuse to use it.

「That shiny cap is part of Clinique』s brand image,」 said John A. Defausse, vice president for package development at Este Lauder. 「And they will not switch.」