Abstract
In order to include the general public in efforts to meet recycling goals, on-pack recycling instructions are a necessary form of consumer education. As documented in literature of nutritional labeling and drug facts labeling, not all label designs are equally effective. As more and more regulatory bodies move to improve the recycling system with policies that include labeling regulation, insight into effective on-pack recycling label design attributes is needed. A comprehensive review of the literature was conducted of articles published in English between January 2002 and October 2022 from Europe, the Americas, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. The databases used were Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, and GreenFILE. Search topics for each database included: “recycling labeling” OR “recycling label” OR “consumer recycling education” OR “recycling instructions” OR “on-pack recycling label”. Two researchers independently reviewed 267 articles found and evaluated their inclusion into a shortlist of 20 articles. Any disagreements about article inclusion were decided by the research assistant. Final review resulted in 8 articles being included in the comprehensive assessment. Due to the limited number of relevant studies, more research investigating the efficacy of different design alternatives for on-pack recycling labels is needed. This need will only be more urgent as the popularity of ‘truth in labeling’ recycling label laws increases.
Presenters
Alyssa HarbenProject Manager, Sustainable Packaging Coalition, GreenBlue, Virginia, United States Prudence Villanueva
Research Assistant, Sustainable Packaging Research Lab , Toronto Metropolitan University, Ontario, Canada Jonghun Park
Associate Professor, Graphic Communications Management at The Creative School, Toronto Metropolitan University, Ontario, Canada
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Education, Assessment and Policy
KEYWORDS
On-pack labeling, Recycling, Consumer Education, Design
