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03.17.2011

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Communicating Sustainability Through Packaging

<hr style="color:#000000; border: 0.09em dotted;"><div style="display:inline; float:left; width:100px; margin: 20px 10px 10px 10px; ">1/8</div><div style="padding: 10px; "><p>
Consumer involvement with sustainability is influenced by a very broad array of factors, and for consumers sustainability is more than just "green." As literal "consumers" they also consider the social, economic and personal ramifications for adopting certain products, not just the "environmental" consequences. Yet while it's these factors and the product contents that ultimately influence their perceptions of quality (which may in turn influence notions of sustainability), packaging and packaging communications are the first and last impression consumers have of many brands today.</p></div>

<hr style="color:#000000; border: 0.09em dotted;"><div style="display:inline; float:left; width:100px; height: 300px; margin:10px;">2/8</div><div style="display: inline;"><p>The social life of products has increasingly taken on greater significance as consumers seek the stories behind product origins, content, production materials, and how easily a product can be used, stored or disposed of. Sustainably oriented packaging (e.g., packaging that makes use of recycled materials, can be repurposed or shows a reduction of packaging) is quickly becoming a consumer expectation - yet it isn't a primary purchase motivator. </p>
<p>
Ultimately a product's essential make-up (such as ingredients) most strongly influences perceptions of its sustainability and motivates purchase. However, in fast-moving CPG categories, such as beverages, high frequency packaging use and disposal has translated into increasing consumer awareness of brands and companies embracing - or not embracing - what are now viewed as first steps in sustainability practices.
</p></div>

<hr style="color:#000000; border: 0.09em dotted;"><div style="display:inline; float:left; width:100px; margin:10px; height: 300px;">3/8</div><div><p>Since awareness of packaging is so personally tied to the daily lives of consumers, in terms of purchase, use and disposal, it follows that individuals understand sustainable packaging primarily in terms of its back-end environmental impacts (typically by what happens to the packaging after they use the product at home). </p>
<p>Packaging attributes that may lend a halo of sustainability to brands include those that relate to reducing packaging, ease of disposal and biodegradability, convenience and versatility.
</p>
<p>Packaging narrative, look and feel also communicate quality, which in turn influences consumer sustainability perceptions.
</p></div>

<hr style="color:#000000; border: 0.09em dotted;"><div style="display:inline; float:left; width:100px; margin:10px; height: 300px;">4/8</div><div><p>Consumers are increasingly knowledgeable about the dynamics of packaging's "end of life": 88% claim to know what "biodegradable" means, followed by 78% claiming they understand the meaning of "compostable." </p>
<p>
Perhaps this self-professed knowledge stems from the fact that among sustainability behaviors today, recycling household items is practiced by 70% of consumers, followed closely by 65% who turn down thermostats to save energy.
</p>
<p>
Interestingly, half of consumers say they donate household items to non-profits (a charitable form of recycling), and one out of five (20%) say they compost kitchen and yard waste.
</p></div>

<hr style="color:#000000; border: 0.09em dotted;"><div style="display:inline; float:left; width:100px; margin:10px; height: 300px;">5/8</div><div><p>While recyclability and products made from recycled content have long been in the lexicon of both consumer and cultural discourse relating to sustainability, biodegradability in packaging is now an expectation among nearly three out of four consumers (72%). </p>
<p>
Conversely, consumers are most concerned about styrofoam and packaging originating in China.
</p>

<hr style="color:#000000; border: 0.09em dotted;"><div style="display:inline; float:left; width:100px; margin:10px; height: 300px;"> 6/8</div><div><p>Relating to familiarity with packaging by product category, when asked to consider various types of food and beverage products and how knowledgeable they feel about recycling them after use, consumers claim an overwhelming familiarity with beverage packaging, with 81% claiming familiarity with beverage packaging recycling as opposed to snack or candy packaging. Consumers are most familiar with soft drink, bottled water, beer and milk beverage packaging followed by juice and wine.
</p></div>

<hr style="color:#000000; border: 0.09em dotted;"><div style="display:inline; float:left; width:100px; margin:10px; height: 300px;">7/8</div><div><p>For brands communicating sustainability today, it is important to remember that at a baseline consumers are seeking sustainable packaging attributes that relate to:</p>

<ul style="margin-left: 100px;">

<li> <strong>Recyclability:</strong> Packaging made from paper, glass, metals</li>
or plastic that can be recycled easily
<li> <strong>Minimal packaging:</strong> Packaging that features less head
space, fewer layers and less content </li>
<li> <strong>Made from recycled materials</strong></li>
<li> <strong>Re-usability:</strong> Items that can be repurposed</li>
<li> <strong>Biodegradability</strong> is becoming increasingly relevant</li>
<li> <strong>Compostability</strong> is increasingly
relevant</li>
</ul>

<p>
Communicate such attributes on packaging along with other sustainability efforts that might relate to your activities in the community and the environment, or product attributes that signal personal benefit to shoppers.
</p></div>