Environmental protection before convenience

 
Packaging Half of consumers would do without convenient packaging in favor of the environment, according to a Nielsen study.  
While environmental awareness has long been very high in Switzerland and the surrounding area, the "rest of the world" is now also becoming increasingly conscious. Almost half of all consumers worldwide would be prepared to do without packaging that merely serves their own convenience in favor of the environment. This is the result of a study conducted by Nielsen on the subject of food packaging, in which 26,486 Internet users were surveyed. For 49% of consumers worldwide, the environment is more important than ease of transportation or storage. In Europe, environmental awareness is even higher: 58% would do without convenient packaging in favor of the environment.hygiene and freshness64% of Swiss people can imagine doing without packaging in which to cook or store goods. "The Swiss seem to tend to repackage goods after purchase. That's why it's not so important to them to be able to store or even prepare the goods in the packaging," explains Marco Bischof, Director Marketing & Communications, Switzerland. 61% of the Swiss would do without packaging for easy storage and stacking at home if it was good for the environment. Hygiene is particularly important to the Swiss. Only 20 percent of those surveyed said that they would do without packaging that keeps the product clean and protects it from being touched by other customers for the sake of the environment. The Swiss also attach importance to packaging that keeps the contents fresh for longer after purchase and packaging with cooking and/or usage instructions. Only 32% want to do without this in favor of the environment. "This is a very exciting result. Although the Swiss shop in the supermarket twice a week on average, they want packaging that keeps the goods fresh for longer," says Bischof in amazement.
Lifestyle is decisive "What is very interesting and of great importance for manufacturers is our finding that attitudes towards packaging depend very much on cultural and regional factors as well as lifestyle," explains Bischof. This includes, for example, the question of whether consumers prefer to go shopping by car or by public transport. The size of their home and, above all, the storage space in the kitchen also have an influence, and cultural differences in terms of eating habits and shopping behavior also have a huge impact on which type of packaging is preferred.
Consumers in Europe and North America agree on which types of packaging they would avoid if they could help the environment: Almost 60 percent would avoid packaging that is specifically designed for easy storage and stacking at home (stack-and-store), and 55 percent said that in principle they would not need resealable and therefore reusable containers.
In Asia, the situation is different again. Asians have less storage space for their food. They therefore often prefer stackable solutions. Convenience packaging in which food can be reheated and resealed is also appreciated. According to Nielsen, the general trend towards greater environmental awareness is unbroken and will also have an impact on packaging design.
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Sabine Flaxman