How to promote sustainable packaging? Let’s first see what consumers say

As the global climate crisis intensifies and natural resources gradually become depleted, the importance of sustainable development has become increasingly prominent and has become a global focus. Faced with an increasingly severe ecological environment, more and more pioneering companies have not only incorporated sustainability into their strategic blueprints, but also deeply integrated it into every detail of their business and operations. Especially in the field of packaging, we are witnessing a grand change towards sustainability.

At the same time, consumers' expectations and behavior patterns are also changing in this transformation. In today's era of advocating green and sustainable lifestyle, any visionary company cannot ignore consumers' calls for sustainable packaging. To this end, (MS DATA) recently conducted a consumer survey on the topic of sustainable packaging, aiming to deeply explore consumers' real needs and expectations for sustainable packaging and the environmentally friendly choices they make in their daily lives.

Sustainable Packaging Consumer User Profile

According to the survey data, environmental protection and sustainable development have become the mainstream voice of today's society. Especially the high-income young consumer groups in first-tier cities, they not only have a high awareness of environmental protection, but are also more willing to pay for sustainable packaging with social value. Most of these consumers are between 24 and 29 years old and have an income of more than 8,000 yuan.

This group of people has distinct characteristics, mostly digital elites, pet lovers and Generation Z. Among them, digital elites account for as high as 79.8%, showing that this group pays great attention to and recognizes sustainable packaging.

Analysis of Consumers’Perception of Sustainable Packaging

However, although consumers’ attention to environmental protection and sustainable packaging is increasing, their awareness is still in its infancy. Although more than 47.8% of consumers can clearly know which product packaging is sustainable, only 18.7% understand the importance of sustainable packaging.

Among various sustainable packaging materials, people have a relatively high level of understanding of PCR packaging, mono-material recyclable plastic packaging and biodegradable packaging, but they are all still in the stage of understanding.

In terms of attitude, most consumers are considering and waiting for sustainable packaging, accounting for 44%, while advocates account for 32%, indicating that some consumers have begun to actively support sustainable packaging. In the perception of the product advantages of sustainable packaging, saving resources is considered the biggest advantage, accounting for as high as 71.2%.

However, issues such as excessive product premiums and durability of replacement packaging are still important factors that hinder consumers from choosing sustainable packaging. When purchasing products, consumers are still most concerned about product quality, accounting for 58.9%. Although the attention to low-carbon and green has increased, it still only accounts for 43.4%, indicating that consumers' consideration of environmental factors has not yet become the dominant factor in purchasing decisions.

It can be seen that as the main force of the emerging PCR market, my country's sustainable packaging market shows great development potential. However, there are still challenges in terms of consumer awareness, product premium and durability.

In the future, how to further enhance consumers' awareness and acceptance of sustainable packaging, improve packaging quality, reduce packaging costs, and promote healthy market development will become the focus that the industry needs to continue to pay attention to.