• Mexican dairy brand Lala recently added space to its packaging for customers to write in the contents when they reuse it.
• The packaging change is inspired by customers’ practice of repurposing the tubs, while recognizing that the opaque color makes it impossible to see what’s inside.

In Mexican households, reusing packaging isn’t historically or necessarily driven by environmental concerns. Mexican heads of household learn to be pragmatic and economically prudent, so they’ll take an empty sour cream tub, wash it, and put it back into service, repurposing it as containers for different foods.

But with reused tubs of Lala sour cream, the refrigerator becomes a loot-box-like experience. Maybe you’re pretty sure there isn’t sour cream in the tub, but since it’s not transparent, you have no idea what’s inside. Maybe it’s leftover beans, maybe it’s some chicken tinga, or maybe it’s spicy salsa. The ubiquity of this experience across the Aztec nation and Mexican communities beyond has inspired memes, of course.