By: Caroline Berryman, CMMP – Contributing Author
With the increasing pressure to reduce waste, consumer products are looking for innovative ways to package their products while simultaneously promoting their environmental consciousness. With the ban of straws in North America, companies like Starbucks are now making lids with built-in spouts. Several grocery stores have announced that they will no longer offer plastic bags for purchase. But that’s not enough to show consumers their commitment to the environment. Now companies are launching extensive marketing campaigns and spending large budgets to demonstrate to their customers that they care about the environment.
In London, England, Coca- Cola is launching a marketing campaign intended to remind people its bottles are recyclable and encourage them to recycle. The campaign is called ‘Round in Circles’ and it will appear in print and outdoor, with a focus on transit hubs. Launched to coincide with Recycle Now’s Recycle Week, it will also see the Coca-Cola London Eye turned green. This is meant to demonstrate the company’s commitment to helping promote the three R’s – reduce, reuse and recycle.
Retailers are also taking action to make their packaging as sustainable as possible and levering marketing and communications to encourage more people to recycle product packaging. Many brands are using more recycled material in their packaging to improve the sustainability of its packaging.
While Coca-Cola has made changes in the way they design, produce, use, re-use, dispose and reprocess packaging, finding the most sustainable packaging solutions is a critical part and recycling infrastructure and behaviour also needs to be considered a priority.
Supermarkets are making efforts regarding plastic waste and according to new research from GlobalData, the devastating effects that plastic waste has on marine life is bringing the issue to the forefront of consumers’ minds and grocery stores have had to react and make changes.
Many major retailers have also announced plastic reduction plans in an attempt to show consumers their concern for the environment – in the US; retail chain Morrisons Supermarket Company will soon introduce paper bags for loose fruit and vegetables. Although the retail industry’s impact on the environment goes way beyond the use of plastic, the awareness is likely to have contributed to the high level of consumers now considering environmental impacts.
As the environment becomes a bigger priority in a competitive market, retailers will need to demonstrate their sustainability to their customers. Retailers will have to respond by encouraging packaging advancements throughout their supply chain.