The notion of fresh food packaging with less environmental impact holds great appeal for UK consumers, according to new research about retail grocery trends in Europe.
In a study commissioned by Cargill Dow and conducted by Grapentine Company Inc, 51% of British consumers ranked the concept of purchasing fresh food in nature-based packaging such as Cargill Dow’s maize-based NatureWorks PLA as “very desirable”.
Of those, roughly 77% said they would pay as much as 5p more for fresh foods packaged in nature-based packaging. Some 74% were willing to spend an extra 10p per food item.
Grapentine’s findings mirror a July 2003 report published by the National Consumer Council on consumer attitudes to sustainable consumption, which noted that UK consumers want more opportunities to use sustainable goods and services. In the NCC research, consumers said they were happy to do their bit for the environment but wanted environmentally sustainable consumerism to be simple and convenient.