The smell of sustainability. The role of olfactory perception on the acceptability of recycled plastic packaging

Using packaging made from recycled plastics is a sustainable way of reducing plastic waste. However, postconsumer plastic might present an off-odor which has been reported by people when purchasing these products for the first time. Because this perception is not shared by all consumers, we investigated what could drive it since information, attitudes, as well as visual factors, can all
play a role.
Methods: Sixty females were tested in a mixed design with packaging with different levels of recycled plastic and colours (cream vs grey) as within-subjects factors, and knowing vs. not knowing that the plastic was recycled as a between-subjects factor, on the characteristics (pleasantness, intensity and familiarity) of the odour perception of the plastic packaging and its acceptability and
willingness to buy.
Results: Preliminary results show that increasing the percentage of recycled plastic significantly decreased the pleasantness and familiarity of the odour but not the intensity. For the packaging made of 100% recycled plastic, acceptability and willingness to buy decreased significantly. Only for the 100% recycled plastic, the grey colour had a negative effect on willingness to buy and acceptability. Knowledge about the plastic being recycled did not show any significant effect. Because the off-odour of recycled plastic packaging affects pro-environmental consumer behaviour, future research could focus on sensory design and leverage cross-modal interaction to compensate for the reduced odour pleasantness, for example by changing the hue or brightness of the
packaging colour.
Funding: This work was supported by Unilever.