Two Areas for Exploration

Grant, you posted a very intriguing question. Also, thank you for sharing the insightful results of the studies from your company. Unfortunately, the result supports the challenges that face the society and the packaging industry: Consumers are not willing to pay more for greener products. With this in mind, I can see two areas to explore for solutions: 1) Greener and More Expensive Products; and 2) Greener but Inexpensive Products. (1) Greener and More expensive Products As the studies offered by Grant suggested, our assumption is that consumers are not willing to accept or absorb extra cost for greener products. Consumers can be enforced to be responsible for greener consumption by government intervention, that are subsidies to marketers of greener products, or taxes to shoppers of non-green products. This is unpopular approach for many of us .However, I believe it is relatively practical. Despite the studies, I believe end-users generally agree that the green is good for society, and that it is okay if society as a whole pays. Absorbing the cost as a part of the tax is much more acceptable way for being responsible for the cost since the cost is not very visible than directly paying out cash at a retailer. (2) Greener but Less Expensive Products This is where the best solution lies because cost is less for a society. As Mr. Gaekwad already mentioned, industry stakeholders should strive to enhance the reusability and a rate of recycle. They should also search the alternative greener materials and design which costs less. The products which can be categorized in this area should be crowned as innovative products.

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