'Majority of consumers paying attention to environmentally friendly packaging'

In March 2019, the EU decided to ban the sale of disposable plastic products from 2021 onward. A large majority of Germans (79 percent) rate this ban positively. But is plastic also important for consumers in terms of shopping their behavior? Only 29 percent believe that enough environmentally friendly packaging already exists. And 72 percent prefer to buy products that cause as little packaging waste as possible. Especially for older people from the age of 60 (81 percent), it is a concern to already avoid waste in the product selection in the supermarket. As consumers get older, they pay less attention to packaging waste. These are the results of the current "For the Waste Basket" analysis by International Data and Analytics Group YouGov.

Sustainable packaging crucial for customers
Almost half of Germans (46 percent) have already left a product on the shelf because it was packaged in plastic. The study shows that plastic packaging is less important for customers at Netto (40 percent) or Aldi Nord (39 percent). More than half (53 percent), however,  would change stores if another, nearby supermarket offered eco-friendly packaging. Mainly, Edeka (58 percent) and Penny (58 percent) could lose customers as a result.

Environmental friendliness is an important issue
The consumer's preference for food packaging depends on the packaged product. For consumers, dry goods such as noodles (51 percent), confectionery (49 percent) and fruits and vegetables (56 percent) put the environmental friendliness of packaging first. For perishables, such as fresh produce and dairy, consumers are most keen to avoid germs (63 percent for fresh products and 58 percent for dairy products). However, with 53 and 54 percent of these product groups, environmental friendliness is the second most important aspect of packaging.

"German consumers are sensitized to the topic of packaging waste and are already trying to actively avoid unnecessary packaging when making their purchases," says Daniela Loeck, Senior Consultant at YouGov. "Retailers and companies across all product categories should take consumers' demands seriously and improve the environmental friendliness of their offerings."