Older People Focus on Waste Separation, Younger People More on Sustainable Packaging

Older people tend to attach more importance to waste separation in the household, while younger people tend to opt for more sustainable packaging. These are some of the findings of the “AVU Packaging Monitor.” For the first edition of the study, the market research institute Yougov conducted a representative survey of 2,000 consumers in Germany in June on behalf of the Alliance for Packaging and the Environment (AVU).

Across all age groups, waste separation is important to four out of five respondents. AVU Chairman Carl Dominik Klepper sees this as proof that the public relations work carried out by “Der Grüne Punkt” as a former monopolist on the licensing market is still effective today. “Now we also need to get young people interested in waste separation so that the success story of packaging recycling in this country continues,” explains Klepper.

Fruit and Baked Goods Preferably Unpackaged

As far as the tendency to pay for more sustainable packaging is concerned, the age structure is reversed: almost twice as many under 35-year-olds as over 45-year-olds are inclined to accept higher prices. However, almost half refuse to pay more for it. By contrast, shoppers’ interest in buying unpackaged FMCG products is largely independent of age: More than half of all interviewees specifically buy unpackaged products at least sometimes to avoid packaging, and just under three in ten (29 Percent) even do so often or very often. Fruit and vegetables and baked goods in particular are often purchased without packaging.

The data on packaging and recycling was compiled by the Society for Packaging Market Research (GVM). According to the experts, the recycling rate across all material fractions increased by 0.5 percent to a total of 74.6 percent in the most recent reporting year 2022 compared to the previous year. The GVM researchers even attribute an above-average increase by 2.4 percentage points to 65.9 percent to plastic packaging alone.

At 19 million tons, the total volume of packaging was 3.4 percent lower than in the previous year. According to GVM, the total tonnage could fall by a further 9 percent by 2030. AVU controller Klepper believes that smaller and lighter packaging, the expansion of reusable offerings, and cyclical consumer restraint are the main drivers of a further reduction. From now on, AVU’s packaging monitor will reflect the development of consumer attitudes and the volume and recycling of packaging on an annual basis.

AVU (formerly AGVU) has been committed to product responsibility for packaging since 1986 and is committed to its environmentally friendly and resource-conserving use and recycling. AVU represents the entire value chain: from the packaging industry, the consumer goods industry, and the retail sector to the dual systems, disposal companies, and recyclers.