packaging easy to return, can be inconvenient for consumers. Beyond this, waste management organisations must ensure there are not too many boxes taking up too much space in consumers’ homes, and collection cannot take too long. 4. Contamination: A recurring challenge Household-level contamination is a key issue for enhancing local council recycling rates, but organisations we worked with also emphasised the need to avoid contamination when packaging is designed, as this influences recycling quality. For the consumer, contamination concerns can lead to recyclables being discarded in general waste bins, or being placed in recycling bins unwashed, contaminating recycling streams and leading to wider issues. One director of a waste reprocessor/ converter company told us of problems they came across with a trial of explaining to consumers what to dispose of and how: “Even though they were all told… what you had to put in the bag, they still did whatever they wanted to.” 5. Extending from private to public practices Recycling practices at home are impacted by and impact on practices in workplaces and in public, where consumers are detached from household routines, and come across different regimes and regulations, adding to confusion. WHAT CAN BE DONE? Our work highlights many potential recommendations. They range from reframing targets to reconsidering package design, from washing recyclable resources at home to showcasing polymer recycling. Throughout these recommendations, runs a thread of communication. On the national level, a communications campaign to rethink the roles of plastic is needed. Public sector and voluntary organisations should work together to identify misconceptions about packaging sustainability, emphasising the benefits of waste reduction and reuse over traditional recycling, for example. At central government level, the need is to prioritise waste prevention, and make things simpler and uniform, enabling consumers to more easily recycle in the ‘correct’ way and avoid contamination. For local government, awareness campaigns can help consumers understand recyclability and contamination. Any local efforts should align with the national movement. Among companies in the plastic packaging supply chain, producers and brands need to consult with and involve consumers in their packaging decisions, as well as learn from them. Efforts to design packaging that is recognisable as recyclable, with uniform and consistent labelling, are crucial. Trust needs to be built with consumers. Companies should be transparent about the environmental and social impacts of their packaging and promote responsible plastic use and disposal. As one participant at a waste management workshop told us, “Responsibility should be spread more across the plastic value chain, and producers should take more responsibility.” Waste/resource management companies should build trust about what happen to household discards, while plastic recyclers should highlight the potential for what the materials can and cannot be used. Consumers themselves need to become more accustomed checking local authority guidance on recycling – communication is only useful if people receive the messaging. They should also communicate among themselves, sharing knowledge and best practice to enable more people to recycle more efficiently. Households are the starting point, and individuals should be empowered in their roles regarding plastics. Over the coming pages, our project members will go into more depth on some of the issues we have outlined above. The PPiPL team’s diverse expertise has allowed us to examine broad swathes of the issues around attitudes and behaviours towards plastic packaging, and what is clear is that it will take a wide-ranging approach to address the challenges. FIFTY FOUR DEGREES | 9 Dr Alison Stowell is a Senior Lecturer and Director of Engagement in the Department of Organisation, Work and Technology. Professor Maria Piacentini is the Associate Dean for Research in Lancaster University Management School, and a Professor in the Department of Marketing. They are Co-Principal Investigators on the Plastic Packaging in People’s Lives (PPiPL) project. PPiPL is a UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)-funded project involving researchers from Lancaster University specialising in consumer insights, supply chain management, waste management, and material science, working alongside 11 industrial partners: Bells of Lazonby; Biotech Services; Booths; Butlers Farmhouse Cheeses; Chartered Institute of Waste Management (CIWM); Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3); Lancaster City Council; Preston Plastics; Relic Plastic; Suez; and Waitrose. The Rethinking the AttitudeBehaviour Gap report outlines the overall findings and outputs of the project. a.stowell@lancaster.ac.uk; m.piacentini@lancaster.ac.uk
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