Wrap’s finding that consumers aren’t put off by mixed-colour glass is welcome news

As we report this month, the quango teamed up with Sainsbury’s to look into consumer acceptance of mixed-colour recycled glass, effectively glass with a slightly green hue (see page 11). It turned out that, for every product apart from mayonnaise, shoppers were perfectly happy for their products to be packed in glass with a slight tint. In fact, they preferred it.

The study was, admittedly, small – just 79 consumers were surveyed. Yet for a glass industry that suffered under the first version of the Courtauld Commitment, this must be good news. It opens the possibility that recycling rates could be pushed higher because of lower wastage in separating collections.

Cost can be kept down for the same reason. And, crucially, it helps make things easier for consumers. Everyone’s happy.
There could be wider implications, too. If consumers aren’t concerned about off-colour glass, the same may be true for other materials, not least plastics. Consumers could well be happy for their plastic carrier bag not to be a perfect white (or orange) if they knew it was environmentally friendly. The same could be said for many recycled HDPE or PET products.

It will be fascinating to see what brand owners make of all this – but intuition suggests that they may be less inclined to accept colour imperfections than their customers. Yet a virtue could potentially be made of an off-colour tint.

Whatever the upshot, it’s positive to see work suggesting how our lives could be made easier. In the meantime, we live in hope that the conclusions of Wrap’s ongoing consultation on carbon measurements for version two of Courtauld won’t make things too much more difficult for the industry.

Josh Brooks is editor of Packaging News

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