What Social Media & Polls Really Tell Us About Reusable Packaging

I keep a secret database of “Shiny Happy Reuse” Instagram Reels. You know the one; a consumer gets their ecomm delivery in a reusable shipping bag, or their to-go meal in a reusable takeout container. Peppy music in the background, young, hip, well dressed customers so appreciative of the brand taking this step to help the planet. And look at how easy it is!

It’s become the reusables cliche, as if your business can’t join the Reuse Club until you have your own. 

Perhaps it’s not surprising. There is a steady diet of polling by various industry players and environmental non-profits that tell us that real people want reuse. 81% of consumers say that the sustainability of packaging matters to them. 64% of consumers are open to borrowing a reusable cup. 74% of consumers are interested in buying products in refillable packaging. 

Sky-high polling results of course aren’t the same as sky-high sales or consistent engagement. After all,  71% of consumers say they are interested in buying or leasing an electric vehicle, yet only 5.8% did last year. Virtue-signaling is a serious risk in open-ended polling; if there is no consequence to saying I’d do something pro-environment, of course I’m going to say I would do something pro-environment.  

I believe those elevated polling numbers are creating a perception/reality disconnect. Packaging leaders - and reusable and refillable packaging leaders in particular - are always going to be more passionate about their work than the average person. They believe, and they are convinced that it just makes sense. Feed them data that tells them that real people do too, and it’s off to the races. “Reuse is king!” as somebody recently commented on one of my LinkedIn posts.

Back to Instagram. Have you ever heard of Smuckers Uncrustables? I certainly hadn’t either, but now that my kids are six and eight, the product has become a part of my life. 

Let’s pretend we ran a poll, and asked people If they thought pre-packaged, crust-free peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were important, or even desirable. I’m confident it wouldn't get 81% support, or even 64%. It’s just a sandwich. 

Yet the sandwiches have nearly 20,000 Instagram followers. I’m aware of just a handful of reusable and refillable packaging companies that exceed that number. That lack of meaningful social media engagement is telling us something important, yet few in the sector seem ready to accept it: this simply isn’t very important to most people in their day-to-day lives. Crust-free sandwiches might not get named a “Best Invention” by Time Magazine, but people buy them. 

The point here isn’t to be a reuse buzzkill. Reuse and refill can work, and can lower the environmental impact of packaging - but generally not in the direct-to-consumer, opt-in models typically featured by media or funded by venture investors. For example, closed-campus settings and concerts have started to show real progress for reusable cups and food containers. Here at Returnity, we’ve started to put a meaningful dent in the over 360 million boxes U.S. shoe and apparel companies use each year to supply their stores with our reusable shipping boxes.

Those Shiny Happy Reuse programs don’t come anywhere close to the 90%+ reuse threshold needed to actually help the planet, let alone create positive unit economics. Their “better for the planet” packaging is almost certainly just making the problem worse, because even an 80% reuse rate only translates to five uses - not nearly enough to cover all the extra material and transportation associated with reusables.

For an industry that uses polling data as a justification for so much of their work, it is therefore particularly problematic to see how often consumers are ultimately blamed for why reuse programs don’t work. We are told that customers think it is too hard, or that the packaging might not be clean. French fast food chains are cautioned to switch to clear plastic garbage bags because too many customers will just throw the reusables in the trash. Or perhaps we should just stop waiting for consumers at all and do it anyway?

Ultimately, I believe that consumers are looking for retailers to make progress in how they package and move goods, and I believe that sentiments are changing. Building off a platform of successful reuse initiatives today will create the trust and capabilities necessary for reuse to be a big part of our packaging future tomorrow, but only if we are honest with ourselves as an industry. In the meantime, I’ll be drinking my coffee in a reusable mug, eating a crustless sandwich, and waiting for a hang glider to deliver my next ecomm order.