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"A carbon logo on a packet of crisps isn't going to affect which one I choose, and I work in the industry," says Rob Holdway of Channel 4's Dumped fame. Holdway runs environmental management company Giraffe Innovation. Based in Brighton, it helps commercial organisations, the public sector and government reduce costs and environmental impact. However, Holdway is sceptical about the plethora of green logos appearing on packs. "Most consumers don't really care," he states.

Many brands, however, would disagree. In fact, a growing number are changing their packaging because they think consumers care a lot. GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), for instance, moved its Ribena bottles to 100% recycled PET last year – communicated to customers via a green label on the packs. "It's important to us because it matters to our consumers. They want to be able to choose a brand that's done part of the work for them in choosing a more environmentally friendly format," says a GSK spokeswoman.

Observers believe brands enter a problem area when they try to communicate their green credentials, especially through logos. Many say consumers simply don’t know what the logos mean. Holdway cites the Carbon Trust's carbon label. "The fact that a packet of crisps has a carbon footprint of 75g doesn't mean anything to people," he says. "The challenge is how to relate that to something people can understand." For comparison, a standard 60W lightbulb is responsible for 34g of carbon per hour of use.

Carbon confusion
Karen Elton, director of research at the Future Foundation, agrees. The London-based organisation conducts research into social trends and in July published the results of its 'Climate Change and the Future of Brands' study. "In our research, levels of understanding of the Carbon Trust logo were quite low. People don't know if 75g is good or bad. Some were even unsure whether reducing carbon was a good thing," she explains.

 
Elton argues that it is difficult to launch a new logo without consumer education first. "You have to explain to people why carbon is an issue and what you’re doing before you stick a logo on something," she says. She praises the efforts of companies such as Boots, which accompanied the reductions made to its Botanics gift packs with posters explaining what had been done.
Ian Webb, partner at design agency Webb Scarlett deVlam, says that consumers need to be able to visualise the impact on the environment in concrete terms. "If a label says "because of this 50 fewer trees have been chopped down', then consumers can understand what that means," he says.

He gives the example of the Lenor Concentrate adverts, which make a virtue of a logistical saving. The adverts explain how many lorries could be taken off the road if everyone switched to a concentrated fabric softener. Webb argues people know what that means and understand the benefits, although he adds that the concentrated bottles have been around for some time and were likely to have been introduced to save costs rather than the planet.

The Future Foundation's study tested consumer understanding of a number of green logos and found less than 35% recognised the Carbon Trust label, the EU Eco flower symbol and the Air Freighted symbol. One participant said she sought out packaging bearing the Air Freighted logo as a sign the food would be fresher.

Elton says she was not surprised by the low level of recognition of the various logos. "Those of us that work in marketing or in the industry look out for and are aware of new things coming on to the market," she says. "But when people are shopping, most will just buy things they have bought before. Even though people are becoming more environmentally conscious, they are looking for special offers, size, nutritional info, brands they recognise. The environment is further down the list."

Webb argues that the multitude of environmental logos, symbols and labels has created endorsement confusion. "Things have to be comparable. When brands and retailers create their own symbols, you can't compare one item's credentials with another," he says. Giraffe's Holdway adds recycling labels also need to be consistent across all brands and should be simple. "You need labels that just say 'yes, this is recyclable' or 'no this isn’t recyclable’.”

Common knowledge
This is exactly what the British Retail Consortium (BRC) is trying to achieve with its common recycling logo. Products fall into one of three categories: 'widely recycled', 'check local recycling' and 'not currently recycled'.

 
Tetra Pak environment manager Richard Hands argues that variation in local authority collections is hampering understanding of recycling. "We have a website, which lists every local authority in the country and if it collects Tetra Paks, if that collection is through kerbside or bring-banks and where those are. We put the web address on packs, but obviously there wouldn’t be space to put all of the information from the site on every pack," says Hands.

 
He adds that there seems to be some confusion, even among local authorities, on what Tetra Paks and other drinks cartons are made of. "I’ve seen local authority websites saying cartons are made of waxed paper and all sorts." However, he does believe that standardising recycling information on-pack in the form of the BRC logo is a step in the right direction.

Guy Douglass, managing director at Cheltenham-based design agency FLB, agrees that the BRC logo should become the norm. He says: "Retailers are trying hard to reduce the amount of packaging waste they generate. They should simply demand that all their suppliers use packaging that is recyclable. Then they wouldn't have to communicate on the pack whether something was recyclable, because it all would be."

Of course, the irony is that as efforts to reduce packaging continue apace, the physical space for the expanding number of green logos is shrinking. As Giraffe’s Holdway says: "I’ve seen packs where the print area has clearly been made larger to tell people they can’t recycle it – that’s crazy."