Unilever and UK retail giant Asda are working on research into how shopping habits can prevent customers from using reusable packaging and in-store refill stations.
Businesses, working with packaging specialist NGO WRAP, should closely monitor people as they plan their purchases from home, make them in their stores and how they sort and store products once they return home. House.
The research aims to better understand the possibilities for recharging and reuse, as well as the barriers that are holding buyers back. The parties hope that supermarkets and businesses will then use this information to increase the use of refillable packaging.
Changes could include making reusable packaging options more visible when shopping online or providing users with prompts and reminders through digital channels.
New research undertaken by WRAP indicates that most two in three people are concerned about plastic pollution, saying they are willing to use charging options to shop sustainably and help fight plastic pollution – but the activity must be facilitated.
Yvette Edwards, director of communications and corporate affairs at Unilever, agrees that more sustainable procurement needs to be made as easy as possible. “We think reusable packaging could help reduce plastic waste on a large scale, but it’s a whole new way to shop that requires new behaviors at home and in-store,” he says. she.
Susan Thomas, Asda’s senior director of sustainable business operations, adds that customers “want to do their part” to reduce their carbon footprint. “Removing price as a barrier to purchase is key to persuading shoppers to embrace refill and our Greener at Asda Price Promise ensures that all bulk products are sold at the same price or less per kg than packaged equivalents.”
Marcus Gover, CEO of WRAP, said no one had looked at reuse and recharge behaviors at this scale before. “This way of shopping needs to become a habit if we are to make serious progress in phasing out unnecessary plastic packaging and meeting the UK Plastics Pact targets.”
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