Plastics Recycling Conference 2023: Countering emotional arguments

Reviewing national headlines would lead one to believe that the public is skeptical about plastic recycling, and marketing research from the Shelton Group also reveals skepticism. A session titled How Does the Public View Plastics Recycling at the 2023 Plastics Recycling Conference that featured Suzanne Shelton of Shelton Group, Knoxville, Tennessee, sought to address how the industry can address this skepticism to improve the plastic recycling rate.

Roxanne Spiekerman, vice president of business development at PreZero US, based in Jurupa Valley, California, moderated the session.

“The consumer has so much power,” she said, noting how brands have pledged to increase their use of recycled content plastics largely in response to consumer pressure. “All of this is influenced by the consumer.”

Spiekerman added that as members of the plastic recycling industry, “We have expert blindness. At the end of the day, it’s what the consumer believes and how we educate them that is going to make the difference.”

Shelton agreed that consumers have all the power, saying that if they are worried about the amount of plastic pollution in the oceans, they are going to complain to brands and elected officials.

Among the statistics that Shelton shared were that 48 percent of Americans want to be seen as green and 85 percent say recycling is the bare minimum we can do for the environment. “We told them, so they continue to believe that,” she said.  

Additionally, 76 percent of Americans indicate that recycling makes them feel better about their buying and consumption habits; 71 percent say they understand the term recyclable; and 61 percent say they understand the term recycled content.

Despite those figures, Shelton said, “There’s a problem with the recycling promise,” and Americans’ belief in it is starting to waiver. She said 30 percent of the people her firm surveyed in 2022 say they are not confident that what they put in the recycling bin is actually recycled. However, only 14 percent indicated that in 2019. Only 44 percent of survey respondents in 2002 say they believe that a product advertised as recyclable is accepted in curbside programs, down from 63 percent in 2015.

The skepticism is not unique to plastics, however. Shelton said 52 percent of those surveyed are not confident that the paper they put in their recycling bins is recycled. Consumers also think plastic is more recyclable than paper as of the 2022 survey, which is a notable change from the 2019 survey.

Additionally, 49 percent of respondents in 2022 say the U.S. recycling system is not working well.

“That is an existential identity problem for us,” Shelton said. “To some degree, that falls on the shoulders of plastic.”

According to her firm’s research, 76 percent of those surveyed in 2022 are worried about plastics in the ocean, with 90 percent thinking more plastic is in oceans and waterways than ever before. “It’s a very emotional issue we can’t counter with facts and stats,” Shelton said.

Half of Shelton Group’s respondents say they have made changes to reduce their purchases of single-use plastics.

Shelton said consumers want a way to not have to feel bad about buying the things they buy, adding that 59 percent of those surveyed believe companies should take responsibility for end-of-life disposal of their products.

Reusable options also make consumers feel better about the plastic packaging they purchase.

Shelton said the best way to counter the emotional arguments surrounding plastic pollution is with emotional arguments.

She shared the Canned Good campaign that her company developed to tell the sustainability and recycling story of the steel can for food packaging, which drove up the favorability of the can and increased the belief in recycling overall.

“You have to talk about the recycling story,” Shelton said, equating most Americans’ belief in recycling to that of a 12-year-old kid’s belief in Santa. “You have to deliver on the promise and show them recycling is working.”

She said the industry also needs to own the fact that plastics are not being recycled as they should.

More carrots and sticks can be used to encourage recycling, Shelton said, such as offering coupons through store drop-off programs and enacting policies that penalize consumers for not recycling. “We have to make trash disposal harder and make recycling easier.”

While Generation X embraces recycled content and recycling. Gen Z and Millennials see these terms as meaningless and embrace climate terms more, Shelton said, which is why brands will need to consider reusables and refillables as part of their plastic packaging strategy in addition to recycling.

The Plastics Recycling Conference, organized by Resource Recycling in partnership with the Association of Plastic Recyclers, its parent company, was March 6-8 in National Harbor, Maryland.