Shaping consumer attitudes

As readers of this website we probably already do our best to recycle, and whilst around six out of 10 of the packages we put on the market are collected for recycling we know that there is still a significant opportunity to do better. With three-quarters of British and French householders claiming to always recycle plastic bottles at home, we should be achieving more.

So what is causing this gap between intention and reality, and how can we work together to close it? As part of our Recycle for the Future campaign, we conducted a ground breaking study with the University of Exeter, to understand why recycling rates are lower than peoples stated good intentions.

Amongst other findings, the research revealed that most people just do what they do unconsciously and often out of habit, and that the household space, systems and technologies determine how they manage waste. It is therefore important that as an industry we continue to find new ways of encouraging consumers to recycle more frequently by embedding the practice within everyday life at home.

At Coca-Cola Enterprises we have committed to reduce the carbon footprint of the drink in your hand by a third by 2020. Almost half of this comes from our packaging so we continue to innovate in the areas of weight, design, recycled content, renewable materials and recycling, without compromising on aesthetics.

However, solving challenges such as how to increase recycling rates takes commitment and action from everyone. Businesses across the fast moving consumer goods industry, recycling organisations and NGOs need to collaborate to unearth best practice from industries and geographies around the world.

Study

With this in mind, we have taken our research with University of Exeter and teamed up with OpenIDEO.com and its 60,000 global members – who have a genuine desire to solve important societal issues – to develop ideas and innovations on how to establish better recycling habits at home.

The 11-week online challenge started with a research phase whereby members have given insights into what happens in different parts of the world and different methods for changing habits. I would strongly recommend that practitioners have a look at this, as it reminds so many of us in the field of what is really going on in peoples lives. The challenge has now just entered the creative ideas phase where concepts are submitted by the community, building on the rich inspiration in the research stage.

The ideas with the most potential for impact will then be narrowed down, by both the community and an external advisory panel comprising representatives from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Forum for the Future, WRAP and Casino.

I therefore encourage anyone who wants to find out more about the research phase and with ideas, to contribute to the online challenge at OpenIDEO.com. You can also follow #recyclechallenge for updates on Twitter.