Influence of packaging design on littering and waste behaviour (original) (raw)
Related papers
The Influence of Packaging Design Features on Consumers’ Purchasing & Recycling Behaviour
The 21st IAPRI World Conference on Packaging
This paper describes an empirical study to determine the influence of specific design elements of sustainable packaging on consumer behaviour during purchase and recycling. Existing studies show that the visual appearance of packaging design influences the behaviour of consumers. The results of this study show that decisions made by consumers regarding the packaging are mostly based on graphics and to a lesser extent on information and form. Furthermore, a sustainable form and information regarding sustainability also have the highest utility, which indicates that these cues are able to trigger a higher buying intention. According the results on recycling behaviour, it is unclear if recycling logos and a stimulating text have an impact on recycling intention of consumers.
The Role of Food Packaging Design in Consumer Recycling Behavior—A Literature Review
Sustainability, 2019
Household waste sorting at the source is an essential part of the waste management system in many countries. Correct sorting of this waste, including food packaging waste, is cost-effective, it facilitates the recycling process and enhances the quality of the recycled product. Although there is a growing body of research that studies the effect of different attributes of food packaging on household recycling behavior, the effect of these attributes on the sorting of the food packaging waste is not well known. This contribution reviews work that studies the relationship between attributes of food packaging and consumer sorting behavior. The review highlights the potential of the visual attributes and the quality of packaging as a communication channel for encouraging consumers to sort the food packaging waste. The efficiency of the waste management system and the quality of recycled products can hence be affected by the proper design of food packaging.
Beyond (eco) design: current approaches to sustainable packaging design
Packaging has always received a lot of attention within the field of design for sustainability. The classical approach has been to mainly focus on reducing the impact of the packaging. This approach stems from the ill-informed position that packaging is superfluous, or at best there only for marketing reasons. This is a rather guild-based approach that, if taken to extremes, would lead to complete elimination of packaging, or at most a quintessential brown paper bag. In industry reality though, the packaging design is seen as a way to differentiate, to stand out from the competition. That view is at odds with the sustainability view. Also, through fulfilling its other functions, such as protection of the packed product, packaging contributes to sustainability. This paper discusses several other approaches, such as circular economy as an alternative perspective on sustainability, prevention of food waste as an alternative design priority, and the eco-cost value ratio as an alternative assessment method.
Sustainable Production and Consumption, 2021
The introduction of reusable packaging systems (both refill and return) has the potential to significantly reduce waste from single-use plastic packaging. However, for these schemes to be successful, both the environmental impact and the willingness of consumers to engage with such systems need to be carefully considered. This paper combines and discusses two complementary studies: (i) a life cycle assessment comparing the environmental impacts of single-use, refillable, and returnable containers for a takeaway meal, and (ii) a large online survey of UK adults exploring what types of product and packaging consumers are willing to reuse, how, and why. The findings of the life cycle assessment indicate that reusable containers outperform single-use plastic containers on most measures of environmental impact. The survey found that given the choice of disposal, reuse or recycling, that recycling is the preferred method of dealing with packaging once empty in the UK, and that people's decisions with regards to what types of packaging they are willing to reuse are largely driven by the aspects of the packaging itself (e.g., material and type) rather than the nature of the product inside of the packaging (e.g., state of matter of the contents). The survey also showed that people were more willing to engage in reuse systems with which they were already familiar. Additionally the language used to describe these schemes and the term ‘reuse’ needs to be considered. Combined, these factors can be used to determine the best packaging reuse system for a given product and situation.
Sustainable Production and Consumption, 2021
The introduction of reusable packaging systems (both refill and return) has the potential to significantly reduce waste from single-use plastic packaging. However, for these schemes to be successful, both the environmental impact and the willingness of consumers to engage with such systems need to be carefully considered. This paper combines and discusses two complementary studies: (i) a life cycle assessment comparing the environmental impacts of single-use, refillable, and returnable containers for a takeaway meal, and (ii) a large online survey of UK adults exploring what types of product and packaging consumers are willing to reuse, how, and why. The findings of the life cycle assessment indicate that reusable containers outperform single-use plastic containers on most measures of environmental impact. The survey found that given the choice of disposal, reuse or recycling, that recycling is the preferred method of dealing with packaging once empty in the UK, and that people's decisions with regards to what types of packaging they are willing to reuse are largely driven by the aspects of the packaging itself (e.g., material and type) rather than the nature of the product inside of the packaging (e.g., state of matter of the contents). The survey also showed that people were more willing to engage in reuse systems with which they were already familiar. Additionally the language used to describe these schemes and the term 'reuse' needs to be considered. Combined, these factors can be used to determine the best packaging reuse system for a given product and situation.
Understand Sustainable Packaging Design in Practice
Proceedings of the DESIGN 2018 15th International Design Conference
Packaging waste is known to be a significant problem for firms and society. Packaging materials constitute 65% of global solid waste. The hidden costs associated with packaging (i.e. disposal, increased traffic, pollution and accelerated deterioration of transport infrastructure) in Europe alone are an estimated € 130 billion/year, 20 times higher than the cost of excessive packaging materials. Increasingly, the cost of processing packaging waste is being directed to firms through legislation and stricter regulations. However, the sustainable packaging work in practice remains unclear and the packaging waste is still an issue. To solve this problem, seven interviews were conducted with the sustainable packaging tool users and tool providers. The interviews were transcript and analyzed. It is clear that there are gaps between tool providers and users.
Sustainability
The intention of this paper is to learn more about why consumers choose whether or not to recycle, with special attention given to the functions of the packaging itself, in order to provide suggestions for improvements in packaging design, recycling systems and the environmental assessment of different packaging designs. The study focussed on ten households in Sweden that where motivated to participate in the study in order to gain an understanding of the complex matter of this decision-making process. The intention of implementing an interview-based qualitative study was to gain rich data and to reach beyond the respondents’ immediate verbal responses. The respondents were interviewed with open-ended questions, which were supported with pictures of packaging; additionally, their waste bins were examined. This explorative study suggests a set of obstacles that cause consumers to dispose of packaging relating to the functions of packaging. The different obstacles that determine wheth...
The social component of sustainable packaging
2009
These days, sustainability is widely understood to address three components; economic, environmental and social sustainability. Ongoing research efforts in the field of sustainable packaging focus on the development of tools and methodologies that address multiple criteria decision making in the packaging design process. These efforts mainly apply to simultaneously addressing environmental and economical considerations using eco-efficiency considerations. The social component of sustainability has not yet found its way into such efficiency considerations, and designers do not have a tool repertoire at their disposal when making trade-offs including social considerations. This does not mean that social sustainability is not an element of packaging design. In this paper, the question is raised whether social sustainability needs to be considered in the context of regular packaging development, and if so, how? Different aspects that may be related to socially sustainable packaging will be discussed, and a definition will be proposed. This paper is intended as a discussion paper, reflecting in part the outcomes of the Packaging and Environment Working Group (WG) session at IAPRI's Bangkok 2008 Conference.