Wasteful habits

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Since he first hit our screens in the early 1950s, Sir David Attenborough has made an unparalleled contribution to our understanding of the natural world. However, raising awareness of disposable packaging and its impact on our seas could become his most significant contribution. 

Since Blue Planet II aired in 2017, plastic has become a critical issue; it’s estimated that 8m metric tonnes enter our oceans each year and, if this trend continues, the WWF estimates that we’ll have more plastic than fish (by weight) in our seas by 2050.

Our research has found that more than eight in 10 UK consumers are now aware of the issue, dwarfing awareness of other high-profile environmental stories, such as diesel pollution ( 45% aware). According to similar Ipsos research, 41% of consumers claim to be ‘very concerned’ about the impact of plastics on the environment.

However, while there has been a surge in concern, it’s questionable whether we have seen a change in consumer behaviour. The plastic bag tax has led to a fundamental shift in the way we shop – since 2015, there has been an 80% reduction in plastic bag use – but other habits seem much harder to break; only 26% claim to have stopped buying bottled water, and just 20% have used a reusable coffee cup, our survey found.

Addressing single-use plastics is not just a consumer issue: Ipsos found that 40% of consumers believed it was up to the brand and/or retailer to address excess packaging.

Over the past year, a flurry of brands have launched initiatives to tackle plastic. Coca-Cola recently brought out ‘reverse vending machines’, offering a discount in exchange for recycling plastic bottles. Competitor Pepsi has gone one stage further through its planned $3.2bn acquisition of Sodastream – could this eliminate bottles from the home market altogether?

As admirable as these initiatives are, brands will have to work hard to ensure they’re not just window dressing. Our research showed only 2% have heard of Adidas’ Parley X running shoe, made from recycled ocean plastic, and just 5% were aware of its Run for the Oceans campaign.

The challenge remains to translate such initiatives into behavioural change. Costa, for example, made much fanfare in 2016 about its aim to recycle 30m cups each year, but conceded less than a year later that only 1% of its customers had taken advantage of the 25p discount for reusable cups.

Never has there been such an opportunity for our industry to play a part – we have the tools to help brands unlock those small changes, which together could make a big impact. Robert Cialdini demonstrated in his 2008 study how social proof could be used in an analogous problem (the challenge of encouraging consumers to re-use towels in hotel rooms). Helping brands understand and tap into the cognitive biases at the root of consumers’ unconscious behaviour could be our own contribution to addressing one of the planet’s most pressing challenges.

Nick Bonney is founder of Deep Blue Thinking, which interviewed 2,000 people in August 2018 with Populus Research.

This article was first published in Issue 23 of Impact.