Abstract

Consumers open, on average, more than seven packages a day which are usually thrown away directly after use. Consequently, packaging waste has become a symbol of the throwaway society, unavoidably adding to our environmental impact. Existing studies have shown that the visual appearance of a package has great influence on consumer behaviour during (1) the processes of making conscious sustainable purchasing decisions and (2) sorting packaging waste after usage. However, it is not clarified how these aspects influence their behaviour and how packaging designers should use this knowledge. Consequently, this paper aims to bridge the gap between packaging design and consumer behaviour during purchase and recycling of sustainable packaging by focusing more on specific elements of the design. A theoretical analysis provides an overview of current literature combining behavioural sciences with design research. Based on (the gaps in) the literature, combinations of design elements are analysed with a conjoint analysis which provides more in-depth research into combinations of specific elements of the design. The most effective elements are integrated into packaging designs which are tested by consumers in a realistic setting, providing insight in more realistic purchasing and recycling behaviour. A comparable test setup has not yet been conducted among existing studies on this subject.

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