Recycled Plastic Packaging on the Upswing: An Abstract

Abstract

Climate change and the impact of human activities on the environment are at the forefront of many global discussions. One option to address climate change at a large scale is for manufacturers to reduce packaging waste, such as by using recycled packaging materials (Adekomaya & Majozi, 2020; Hopewell et al., 2009; Humphrey, 2009; Nordin & Selke, 2010), for both food and non-food products. By investigating how recycled plastic packaging biases consumers’ perceptions of product naturalness, across five studies, the authors establish that consumers tend to perceive products in recycled plastic packaging, compared with regular plastic packaging, as more natural, and also that they are more likely to purchase these products, due to the increased perceptions of naturalness. The effects hold for a variety of food and non-food products: cereals, cookies, shampoo, laundry detergent, dishwashing liquid, moisturizer, shower gel, and toothpaste. In contrast with plastic, which is considered an unsustainable material, recycled packaging does not affect perceived product naturalness for sustainable materials such as cardboard; this material, in its “regular” state, already may appear sufficiently natural and less harmful for the environment (Lindh et al., 2016; Magnier et al., 2016), in line with the embedding effect (Irwin & Spira, 1997; Kahneman & Knetsch, 1992). The effect of recycled plastic packaging also can be clarified by integrating consumers’ CSR beliefs. Even if recycled plastic packaging is more processed, and therefore less natural, it evokes higher CSR beliefs about the company, which leads to higher perceived naturalness of the product. This effect applies to both food and non-food products. Using a variety of stimuli and a variety of samples, we obtain strong support for our hypotheses. This evidence that recycled plastic packaging affects the perceived naturalness of products and consumers’ purchase intentions is highly relevant to product manufacturers, public policy makers, and consumers, especially in their environmental consumption efforts. In a sense, recycled packaging offers a double-edged sword. On the one hand, in their efforts to reduce packaging waste (European Commission n.d. “Circular”), public policy makers want to encourage or mandate the use of recycled plastic, which will benefit the product manufacturers too. Using recycled plastic packaging reinforces the company’s CSR reputation, though they also must take care to avoid evoking suspicions of greenwashing. On the other hand, such greenwashing can serve to manipulate consumer perceptions. Public policy makers should realize that the use of recycled packaging can cause consumers to develop product naturalness perceptions, which may or may not be accurate. One solution to this potential issue is requiring naturalness claims signaled by packaging to be better regulated.