The analysis of the questionnaire does not discriminate among packaging types but considers all types of packaging from consumers. The results from the investigation into packaging used for secondary uses provide the main attributes that consumers seek when reusing packaging. The results of the attributes interpreted into physical and non- physical packaging attributes. From Table 5-10, it can be seen that attributes of packaging that encourage people to reuse are for different purposes. It concentrates mostly on physical attributes such as geometry of packaging, the quality of packaging materials and the content of packaging. Hence, the results show that consumers who reused packaging did not have any concerns regarding whether or not the packaging material had any influence on health issues. This reflects that users have high confidence in the packaging materials that the manufacturer has used and believe that there is not any risk to health and safety. In addition, the results of this study show that there are a high number of participants who reuse glass packaging because of its reusable quality. Furthermore, during analysis of the questionnaire, from packaging used for secondary uses, packaging that can be refilled and is also easy to reclose and reopen is more likely to be reused. Moreover, packaging of a sensible size is seen to be more worthwhile for the practice than small packaging, which most consumers are likely to discard as waste. The results from the questionnaire on packaging used for secondary uses show that portability of packaging which converges with its size and dimension can lead to ease of carrying and storing. This result from the questionnaire indicated that packaging size formats have obvious potential for encouraging reuse. Therefore, some packaging attributes can encourage users to reuse the packaging at the end of its life. This kind of user perception, on which packaging attributes have been built, can move the waste away from being seen as disposable in consumers’ minds to one of the most sustainable waste route options like reuse.
However, in the non-physical packaging attributes, there is little difference in the results, and only a few attributes observed from the questionnaire due to the nature of the questionnaire did not focus participants’ attention on a specific area of social behaviour. The results from participants who reuse packaging for secondary purposes show that they are not concerned about the print quality and colour types. Also, the original price of packaging had a variety of results. The participants who reuse packaging for
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secondary uses are not concerned about the price of the packaging as they always said it is ‘free’ to get the value from re-using the packaging. Another factor, availability of services, is one of the factors that most sustainable waste options are concerned about; however, in the reuse option, the situation is different. The results show that participants who reuse packaging for secondary purposes were not concerned about whether the packaging could be refilled with the same contents, which means that as long as the packaging has features to allow it to be reused, it is enough. A reward for reusing packaging for its primary purpose is another non-physical attribute which most consumers are looking for. However, reusing packaging for secondary purposes comes from the consumer her/himself and how they can get value from reusing this type of packaging. Reuse is an approach that requires forward planning, which means that, when purchasing the product, the consumer has for some time planned to reuse the packaging for secondary uses. Thus, the reuse activity for secondary uses is not normative – unlike reuse for the same purpose, which requires availability of refills. There are few answers amongst participants about how reuse of packaging for secondary uses is due to concern about the environment. In summary, the results from the questionnaire from packaging used for secondary uses indicate that there are 13 essential packaging attributes, which verifies most of the reusable packaging attributes, as shown in Table 5-11. Moreover, most of the 13 essential packaging attributes for packaging reuse for secondary uses come from an integrated approach and an empirical study except the portability of packaging, which did not appear in prior analysis. This result confirms that there are no different reusable packaging attributes between packaging reuse for the same purposes and reuse for secondary uses. In other words, packaging attributes are the behaviour control for reuse of packaging like availability of recycling bins in recycling activities. This is because of the functionality of these attributes which allow the packaging to be reused. Finally, packaging that has no obvious reuse function is likely to be discarded as waste.
Table 5-11: Reusable Packaging Attributes for Secondary uses
Marketing
communication Geometry Content Sustainable
Quality Refill ability with other stuff Dry Environmentally Convenience Clean ability Wet
Portability Re-store ability Endurance Size Easy ability
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Comprehensive research was undertaken between packaging design attributes and reusable packaging in an attempt to determine a set of common attributes, which include dimensions such as sustainability, geometry/ergonomic, marketing and communication. The range of reusable packaging attributes is shown in Table 5-12 from the results in Table 5-6, 5-7 and 5-11.
Table 5-12: Reusable packaging attributes after combining the results of the relationship between packaging design and reusable packaging, and the relationship between packaging used for secondary
uses and reusable packaging