Will Customers Pay More for Sustainable Packaging?

According to research by Trivium Packaging, 74% of consumers say they are willing to pay more for a product that comes in sustainable packaging, with one-fourth of that willing to pay an increased cost of 10% or more.

Conducted by the Boston Consulting Group, the report includes responses from over 15,000 consumers in the United States, South America and Europe.

More than two out of three consumers classed themselves as “environmentally aware”, saying they prefer “environmentally friendly, recyclable packaging”.

Half of those surveyed also said they avoided packaging deemed “harmful”, with 68% of those who would avoid harmful packaging saying they were concerned about ocean pollution.

The results echo a 2019 survey by Shoppercentric, which found that 82% of British consumers factored “environmentally friendly” labelling when making buying decisions, and 59% actively avoided types of packaging they considered bad for the environment.

Meanwhile, 43% of consumers said they looked for easily recyclable packaging – with that number going up to 58% for people over 75.

Shoppercentric MD Jamie Rayner was optimistic about the results, saying, “For shoppers there’s still a long way to go, but the desire to do the ‘right thing’ is clearly there.”