The Marketing Threat to Increased Recycling Rates

There are many reasons why recycling rates aren’t higher among consumers, it may surprise you to know that it’s one of the most powerful forces in determining what sort of products are available for recycling. While nearly everyone will tell you they’re for recycling, in principle, they are less than likely to support glass reuse schemes or plastic standardization on the basis of marketing elements.

For instance, every product in a typical store is competing with the largest and brightest displays to get your attention in an already visually overwhelming marketplace. As such, marketing professionals are less than likely to consider the actual recyclability of a final product or the packaging used to sell it when designing their campaigns. In fact, an unwillingness by marketing departments to agree to a standardized size or even color of bottle has kept an automated type of glass recycling machine from being used commercially one that would make recycled glass as profitable as other types of recycled material.