Research commissioned by Metal Packaging Europe and conducted amongst consumers in Britain and eight other European countries – France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Denmark Netherlands, Belgium, and Poland – has revealed some interesting results for the UK.
The research shows that more UK consumers (when compared to their counterparts in all other countries surveyed), cited their reasons for purchasing canned food as being easily recyclable, helping to reduce food waste, allowing for a varied and balanced diet, and being less expensive than other products.
The UK was also the second highest country for consumers’ appreciation of the can’s shelf life, ease of storage and preservation of nutritional values.
On recycling alone, the UK is the top scoring country for consumers knowing that:
- the can is an easy-to-recycle type of food packaging;
- the can is fully recyclable;
- the can is endlessly recyclable with no loss of quality which means it can be recycled repeatedly to make new metal products.
And asked to consider specific attributes of food cans, UK consumers were top for understanding the robustness of cans, their extended shelf life, that they are endlessly recyclable and help reduce food waste.
It’s not often we get to blow our own trumpet, but this is surely a hats off moment for our sector which has worked tirelessly for many years – decades – to present these commendable attributes of metal packaging through bespoke campaigns, cross-sector delivery, and consistent messaging.
All due credit to our European partners for delivering Europe-wide themes which have extended this consistency of approach – not least through the ‘Metal Recycles Forever’ moniker which is increasingly visible in our shops and supermarkets.