New research from Aquapak suggests 70% of UK adults are confused about what packaging can and can’t be recycled.
As part of the research, Consumer Intelligence surveyed 751 UK adults earlier this year on their knowledge of packaging recycling.
Only 10% of respondents said they always find instructions on how to dispose of packaging easy to understand.
52% described instructions as ‘sometimes’ understandable and only 29% said they are ‘often’ easy to understand.
21% said they always read the recycling instructions on product packaging, which increases to 31% for respondents between 25 and 34 years old but drops to 17% for those aged 65 and over.
Our research findings suggest that there is a very long way to go when it comes to making packaging recyclability in the UK…
However, almost one in ten (9%) say they never read whether the packaging they have bought can be recycled.
When asked which everyday packaging is the easiest to dispose of and recycle, 53% said paper, which was followed by glass (18%), plastic (13%), mixed materials (9%) and metal, such as aluminium (7%).
Alongside the survey, Aquapak is calling on the UK Government to ensure its extended producer responsibility (EPR) scheme enables producers to move ‘away from hard-to-recycle conventional plastics’.
Aquapak develops and manufactures specialist polymers to support the production of sustainable packaging material.
Dr John Williams, Chief Technical Officer at Aquapak, commented: “Our research findings suggest that there is a very long way to go when it comes to making packaging recyclability in the UK easy to understand for the consumer, particularly as so much of it contains hard to recycle plastic material.
“There needs to be a significant shift away from the status quo for packaging. New legislation should support faster adoption of innovation that is specifically developed to retain packaging functionality, support recyclability and offer safe end-of-life options if optimal waste management processes are not available.”
