Consumer behaviour

By examining packaging from the consumer’s perspective, sustainable alternatives can become an investment to generate more added value for the customer. Sustainable packaging is better for the environment and will help companies cut costs on materials, energy consumption, transport, and waste processing. In other words, there are more than enough reasons to have a good look at how packaging affects consumers.

Packaging affects consumer behaviour in three different phases:

1. Purchase
2. Use
3. Disposal

Commissioned by the KIDV, two studies were conducted on sustainable consumer behaviour. Tao Heslenfeld's study covers all three phases of consumer behaviour, while Esther Daams' study focuses specifically on purchasing behaviour. The infographic shows the main findings of the studies.

Packaging plays an important role in the purchase phase, as it tells consumers something about the product. The shape and function of packaging are key factors that may influence consumers’ perception and brand experience. Sustainability, however, can also affect perception.

Research shows that almost half of Dutch consumers (48%) paid attention to aspects of sustainability when purchasing products or services in 2017.  Until 2013, this percentage had typically hovered around 30%, before gradually increasing since (source: Gfk and B-open). Packaging has played an important role in this development, and the global market for sustainable packaging grows by 14% every year (source: Marketing Tribune). This offers myriad opportunities for consumers, too.

It can be difficult for consumers to evaluate the functional properties of packaging at a glance, and they might not always properly appreciate packaging features intended to prevent product loss and waste and to guarantee safe use. These essential features sometimes get lost in the heated debate about the use of and need for packaging, which will often revolve around excessive use of packaging and the amount of packaging that makes its way into the environment and our oceans.

Objectively assessing the environmental impact of packaging is not always easy for consumers, and consumers' perceptions and beliefs may differ significantly from the actual, scientifically proven environmental impact of packaging, as demonstrated by a life-cycle analysis.Research shows that six out of ten (62%) European consumers are willing to pay more for food that has less plastic in its packaging. Therefore, the challenge in developing sustainable packaging is to take into account both the scientific environmental impact and consumer perception. Packaging can also be used to communicate sustainability measures.

In the use phase of a product, and foodstuffs in particular, packaging plays a key role in preventing spoilage and therefore product loss and food waste. After all, approximately 90% of the environmental impact of product-packaging combinations is due to the packaged product, with the packaging accounting for a mere 10%.

As such, preventing product loss is key. This can be done by considering how consumers will use the product-packaging combination as early as the development and design stage. It is important, for instance, to ensure that the packaging does not encourage ‘unintended’ behaviour that will lead to food waste or increase the chances that the packaging will end up in the environment as litter. Take, for instance, packaging that cannot be emptied properly, out-of-home beverage or food packaging, and packaging with easily detachable parts.

Conversely, packaging can also be designed precisely to encourage sustainable behaviour. Portion packs, for instance, can prevent consumers from buying more food than they need. The fact that this requires more material is offset by the considerably greater impact that food waste would have. The challenge is to strike a balance between minimising product loss on the one hand and the amount of packaging material used on the other hand.

Another way to combat food waste is to inform consumers on why packaging is necessary and to clearly communicate the product’s shelf life.

Consumers are quick to associate packaging with waste, even though packaging makes up only a small part of waste streams in the Netherlands. Consumers may also be annoyed when throwing away packaging when they are left with an excessive amount of packaging or if the packaging cannot be properly separated from other waste streams, which can lead to negative brand associations.

It is therefore very important to keep an eye on how packaging disposal can affect the consumer’s experience with a product, and explicitly considering sustainability and the waste phase of packaging in the design process is a great way of doing this. Try using less raw materials, for instance, or taking a closer look at where the packaging ends up after the product has been used.

It is also important to communicate clearly to consumers how they can dispose of empty packaging, as this will increase the quality of collected and recycled materials and make them easier to reuse.

Disposal guide

Over the years, consumers have been given more and more ways to separate waste, but this has also made throwing away packaging considerably more difficult. Consumers frequently find themselves asking what goes where. To answer this question, KIDV has developed a Disposal guide. This guide consists of a series of icons that can be printed on packaging and that indicate the waste categories to which the various parts of a piece of packaging belong, showing customers how to properly dispose of the packaging at a glance.

Symbols on packaging

To provide more insight into the various symbols that can feature on packaging, KIDV has also produced a ‘Symbols on packaging’ fact sheet(only available in Dutch). There are three different kinds of symbols:

1. Symbols that inform consumers about the source of the material used, such as the cradle to cradle symbol and the Forest Steward Council (FSC) symbol.
2. Symbols that inform consumers about how packaging can be properly disposed of or how it is processed in the waste phase, such as the Möbius strip symbol, the ALU symbol, and the Waste guide icons.
3. Other symbols used in other countries can also appear on products and packaging sold in the Netherlands, such as the Grüne Punkt symbol.

Collection

In the context of KIDV’s scientific research programme in collaboration with the Top Institute of Food and Nutrition , a study was carried out into how people collect waste when presented with various collection systems. The aim of the study was to assess the effectiveness of different collection systems and to determine to what extent personal and contextual variables play a role.

Litter

Litter is another key issue when it comes to how people dispose of packaging, and uncontrolled disposal of packaging waste is a significant problem. Packaging waste that ends up on the street or in nature is a bane to society, as well as polluting our environment, rivers, and seas. KIDV partnered up with Nederland Schoon, an organisation that strives to combat littering, for the project ‘Smart design to prevent litter (Slim ontwerp voor de preventie van zwerfafval)’ (only available in Dutch).