UK consumers prefer food packaging to be paper-based

Submitted by: The Two Sides Team August 19, 2014

More than half of respondents to a YouGov poll on packaging said that they would prefer their groceries and fresh produce to be packaged in paper-based materials (such as that pictured above) than in plastics.

The poll, commissioned by the Confederation of Paper Industries (CPI), found that 57 per cent of the 2,289 people surveyed preferred their grocery and food packaging in paper-based materials, with just eight per cent highlighting that they would prefer plastic containers. Almost a third, 31 per cent expressed no preference in material.

Indeed, 46 per cent of respondents said they would be ‘more likely’ or ‘much more likely’ to purchase an item in paper-based material (rather than plastic containers), if all other aspects of the product (including price and quality) were the same.

However, indifference levels were again high (47 per cent), with just three per cent saying they would be ‘less likely’ to purchase something in a paper-based material over an item in plastic packaging.

On a national level, consumers in London were the most keen to buy food products in paper-based packaging, with 62 per cent favouring it to plastic.

Overall, 46 per cent of respondents said they would prefer to buy a product from a retailer using paper-based containers than from one that didn’t.

Speaking of the findings, CPI’s Director of Packaging Affairs, Andy Barnetson, said: “The findings of the YouGov poll indicate that paper and corrugated remain the most popular form of packaging for consumers in the UK. However, the corrugated industry must keep building on this significant public support by continuing to put the consumer at the centre of everything it does.”

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