Consumers Give Green Packaging Perspectives

According to a new poll released by the Glass Packaging Institute (GPI), Alexandria, VA, 54% of Americans believe that a packaging material is “recyclable,” only if it can be recycled to its original use “an unlimited number of times.” In contrast, 41% of those polled believe a package is “recyclable” if it can be repackaged from one form into another, even if it eventually ends up in a landfill. The poll of 1,000 respondents was conducted by Opinion Research Corporation, Princeton, NJ, for the Glass Packaging Institute.

The poll results were released by GPI during the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) public workshop “Green Guides and Packaging,” held April 30 in Washington, DC. The workshop’s goal was to help FTC determine whether advertising and labeling claims  currently being used for packaging are clear and supported, given the growing public interest and concern about the environment.

“We believe these poll results show that Americans want stringent guidelines for recycling and do not want those standards to be ‘watered down’,” says Joe Cattaneo, president, GPI. “In recent years, there have been efforts within the packaging industry to change the definition of the term ‘recyclable’ to include materials that are really ‘downcycled,’ changed from one form into another. It is important that the FTC understand that most Americans know the difference and don't want to see the standards loosened further.”

The poll also showed that more than three out of four adults (77%) believe that more than 50% of a package should be able to be reprocessed to its original form to be considered “recyclable.” Overall, 33% thought that 100% of a package should be able to be reprocessed to its original form to be considered “recyclable.”

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