By Raffi Schieir, Director of Bantam Materials and the Prevented Ocean Plastic Programme
We are living through a cost-of-living crisis and many businesses are facing tough decisions when it comes to ensuring their products are affordable and accessible to their customers. Rightly, we are seeing brands, manufacturers and retailers work to ensure changing consumer needs are met, but in some cases we are also seeing businesses attempt to drive down costs at the price of sustainability. For the sake of people and planet, we cannot lose momentum on critical sustainability issues, but currently none of the top 10 FMCG companies use more than 9% recycled plastic across their product ranges (Ellen MacArthur Foundation, 2020). Through our work at the Prevented Ocean Plastic Research Centre, we want to bust the myth that recycled packaging has to cost more. We must work towards a circular economy on plastic and businesses can’t hide behind the crisis as a way to cut corners in their supply chains.
Value is important to consumers, but it cannot cost the earth. Businesses must recognise this, alongside a growing consumer desire to do more to help protect the planet. To find out more about where customer ambitions lie, and where they are not being met by supply, we commissioned research from Kantar in May 2022. Taking fish as an example of consumer purchasing habits, we found that while value remains the biggest driver for purchasing decisions, there is an appetite to shop more sustainably – 60% of people that bought fish are seeking better plastic choices and over three quarters (78%) are willing to make changes to their shopping habits to achieve this. Businesses should therefore be ramping up the number of products in recycled and sustainable packaging, not just for the benefit of the planet, but to meet the needs of their customer base.
At the same time, the research shows shoppers are still uncertain about what the most sustainable options are available to them and how to identify more sustainably packaged products – for example those in recycled plastic. Less than half (45%) feel confident that they can identify in store which packaging has least impact on the environment. This clearly shows more needs to be done to make it easier for shoppers to make good choices. That’s why we created the Prevented Ocean Plastic (POP) logo, displayed on all our packaging. It shows that the product is packaged in high quality, certified and award-winning recycled plastic material made from discarded plastic collected from coastal areas at risk of ocean plastic pollution.
And it seems to be working. Nearly three-quarters (73%) said they are interested in buying fish with Prevented Ocean Plastic packaging if it’s the same price or product as with other packaging and 58% said they would swap to Prevented Ocean Plastic packaged fish if it was available in their supermarket. There is still an assumption that recycled is more expensive than new, but businesses can offer their customers sustainable options that are also affordable. In fact, recycled plastic can cost only a fraction of a penny per bottle more than virgin plastic.
Ultimately, businesses know they must help their consumers make better choices. We must do more to provide more products in recycled packaging and work towards creating a truly circular economy.
For more information about Prevented Ocean Plastic visit Preventedoceanplastic.com or about Bantam Materials visit Bantamltd.com