Companies fund EU packaging and consumer study
package for their products, European associations have launched a
consumer study to find out their concerns.
The European Shopping Baskets programme is a joint venture between Europen, the European Organisation for Packaging and the Environment, and STFI-Packforsk.
"We believe the programme will provide very useful data and information that will permit people, including policy makers and regulators, to understand why demand for packaging is changingand growing, for example due to the aging of society, more disposable income, the rising number of people living alone, increased demand for prepared meals and on-the-go food consumption,"the organisations stated.
Members of the two organisations include many of Europe's largest packaged goods companies, packaging makers and packaging material suppliers. They are providing the initial funding for theprogramme.
The programme will follow packaging development in Europe by generating data and social information to help the industry understand the drivers for packaging development and demand.
The study will use key information to define for example changes in material consumption, such as packaging weight, product weight. It will also identify changes in packaging choices, which resultin changes in the total packaging weight in the basket and volume efficiency.
"The results can be used to describe development for either the entire shopping basket, for a specific product category, for a specific packaging material or a specific type ofpackaging," the associations announced yesterday.
All results will be related to various social data such as demography, consumer behavior and life-style patterns.
The organisations hope to demonstrate how the industry has been coping with meeting the various and often conflicting demands placed on packaging systems, especially in the face of new recyclinglaws in the EU.
It will provide data for industry's concerns in balancing consumer demand for more functional packaging, with environmental and economic drivers. Companies will be able to use the data as abenchmark for their use of packaging for their products, the organisations stated.
The programme will be launched first in Estonia, Finland, Italy, Poland and the UK.
