It comes as no surprise that when people are asked about sustainable product attributes, one of the most common they recall is recyclability.
The use of recyclable materials or the option to recycle them comes to mind for many conventional consumers. Here we mostly mean those that are not primarily interested in sustainability and have a medium perceived awareness and knowledge of sustainability.
This is supported by the fact, that consumers mainly recognise and are affected by sustainable traits that are easy to understand and have already interacted with in one shape or form.
In one way, we could assign this phenomenon also to neophobia (the fear of something new). You see, this occurs when people are not familiar with the materials, ways of production, and its final quality, safety, performance, etc.
We also notice the rise of terms such as reuse, repurpose, refurbish, and recycle, and mostly assign it to the ever-higher ecological consciousness and the popularity of circular economy practices. From another perspective, recycling appears to be at the top of the sustainable iceberg for the average consumer.
However, if we dare diving deeper into the topic of recycling, for some materials it has proven to be ineffective. While it might seem that we are successful in solving this issue, the truth is far from it.
Recycling through data
“Out of the 5.8 billion metric tons of plastic waste generated between 1950 and 2015, only about 9% of it has been recycled. The rest has been left to be incinerated, landfilled, or littered.” 1
“Only 5% to 6% of the U.S.’s plastic waste converted into new products in 2021.”2
“56 companies are responsible for 50% of the world's plastic pollution, of which the top five are The Coca-Cola Company (11%), PepsiCo (5%), Nestlé (3%), Danone (3%) and Altria-Philip Morris International (2%).”3
“Only 2% of plastic waste is recycled in a closed loop and not turned into something of lower quality, which is called downcycling.”4
“Only 27% of batteries are recycled in the UK, resulting in more than 20,000 tonnes of battery waste straight to the landfill.”5
“Environmental organisations such as the Friends of the Earth Germany estimate that less than 16% of the recyclable waste earmarked for recycling in Germany can actually be reused!”6
“The overall recycling rate in Europe is 48% while the packaging waste recycling rate reaches 66%.” 7
An intermezzo
Want to know what really happens?
Next, let’s have a look at an interesting case from the 70’s. The ad we highlight shows a Native American man canoeing from the beautiful, peaceful nature to the messy, chaotic, smoggy, and littered big city. The ad is narrated, encouraging citizens to take care of their state.
The ad was funded by an environmental nonprofit organisation Keep America Beautiful. According to Forbes the board members of the organisation are representatives from Dow Chemical Company, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, and Nestle — companies that all rely on the production of single-use plastic. Some of them also being among the top companies adding up to 50% of all plastic pollution. 8
Interesting to say the least.
We continue with the regular program
Looking at the perspective of consumers and their interactions with recyclability, we recognise positive and negative feelings, emotions, and perceptions, highlighted below.9
1. Why it works
Recycling is often a top-of-mind benefit for sustainable products as it is easy to understand.
People anticipate that shopping and preferring recyclable products will make them feel positive emotions, such as pride because they are contributing to a better world.
They perceive such products as a chance to express themselves and feel special.
The act of purchasing a recycled product can serve as a positive social marker.
2. Where we get stuck
Consumers face various risks when dealing with products made from recyclable materials. They are most often related to performance, safety, aesthetics and yes you guessed it, financial risk.
Some other perceptions regarding such products are:
A common belief that products made from recycled materials are perceived of inferior quality.
Negative emotions due to fear of perceived contamination risk and the emotion of disgust.
While the perceived sustainability of such products positively affects how they view the brand and creates favourable beliefs towards the brand, they do not translate to purchasing of such products to such extent.
How it works best
Now that we have a somewhat holistic view of the topic, let’s dive into what actually works, why, and how.
When providing information about the sustainability of products, especially supported and verified by a third party, the willingness to purchase drastically increases. In addition to that, we stress that information needs to be easily recognised and digestible.
What seems to work best is highlighting the true identity of materials as they used to be used, creating anticipated conscience through storytelling techniques.
Highlighting strong facts supporting safety, providing eco-labeling, and attractive eco-friendly packaging is shown to positively impact perceptions around the product. The higher the perceived value, the higher the probability of a purchase intention.
Consumers usually associate gentle-related attributes (health, safety, etc.) with higher product ethicality and vice versa. Strength-related attributes are associated with lower product ethicality (e.g. quality, power).
What is more, when the expected attributes of a product lean more towards strength, products made from recyclable materials are not as valued as if the expected attributes are more gentle, per se.
Explicit tags such as guaranteed product safety, quality, and strength, used according to expected product attributes, are noted to counter-balance negative perceptions.
What is the verdict?
To use recyclability as an attribute or not to use it?
The fact is, recycling is viewed as a solution we as a species have already successfully adopted. To the wider population recyclable options and the use of such materials, paired with great storytelling, leveraged in the right way can almost definitely positively impact the way they view the brand, its products and might even impact their purchase intentions.
The other side of this coin, as shown in many cases above narrates a totally different story. One might say the whole scheme of recycling is a scam and all everyone is doing, be it intentionally or not, is greenwashing its users.
Or do they?
Be the change,
Marko
