I’ve mentioned before that one of the ways Apple is lessening their impact on the environment is through smaller packages.

Smaller packages take fewer raw materials to construct. This means less energy needs to go into harvesting those materials and producing the packaging. It also means less material needs to be recycled and less material will undoubtedly end up in landfills.

Reduced packaging also means that more units can be transported or stored in the same amount of space. Fewer plane or train miles are required to transport the computers and other devices from the manufacturing plant to the point of sale. Retail stores can stock more Macs and iPhones in the same square-footage (or less) store which puts fewer demands on real estate acreage and requires less energy for lighting, cooling, or heating.

Author and developer Jeff LaMarche just got a 17″ MacBook Pro and offers some photographic evidence of the progression of smaller and smaller packages from Apple.