Primary Can Research

 

 

I decided the best thing for my project would be to do some primary research into brands that are already out there to see their designs and to see if any of them have anything related to recycling their packaging. From the images I took you can see that only a couple of the of cans had writing related to recycling. The best writing-related was 'widely recycled'. A lot fo recycling imagery is misleading. The Green Dot or arrow does not necessarily mean that the packaging is recyclable, will be recycled or has been recycled. It is a symbol used on packaging in some European countries and signifies that the producer has made a financial contribution towards the recovery and recycling of packaging in Europe. 

For example, the K cider has no information about recycling on it at all. And the red stripe can say widely recyclable,  “Widely recycled” label indicates that 65 per cent or more of local authorities in the UK collect and recycle that article. 65 per cent is really not a lot and it is not clear that it is that. I had no idea until I researched. I also found out that a lot of other customers have asked the same questions. The companies showing this label are not being transparent and clear about their products showing they aren't being fair by sharing the responsibility of the product.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The minimal and clean design of the Stella Artois can give off a professional and clear design however again the recyclability aspect of the can is not clear. There is just one small simple logo expressing it.

 

 


Here we are looking at the Carlsberg design. Carlsberg out of all of the designs are showing more respect to the environment and showing the consumer more information about recycling. As you can see they quote a website 'www.reclenow.cm' and they specify the material of the can which makes it more clear to the consumer. With my design, I want to portray this aspect with more clarity and larger so the consumer does not have to look far to understand what to do with the package at the end of the life cycle.

 

Above are two cans that I took photos of that to ask the consumer two recycle. They are doing it in a kind manner asking the consumer to recycle. This should play on their emotion to want to recycle, much like what Laroche, Bergeron and Barbaro-Forleo (2001, p. 506) state that recycling ‘is a behaviour that someone “ought” to do’ even if the benefit for them is limited, showing the responsibility should lie with them. 

I will be doing this on my can design, however I may do it in a manner that is more obvious for the consumer as this technique is not really working and playon the fact that the consumers should want to recycle.