Content area
Full Text
Each consumer in the United States contributes an estimated 3.5 lbs of trash per day to the nation's refuse.(10) About half of this trash is believed to be packaging-related. Landfills are scarce, expensive, and reaching a saturation point. Reducing the amount of product packaging is seen as an important way of fighting the rising tide of trash.
As environmental responsibility is developing into part of everyday life, product packaging is becoming a major concern of some consumer groups, governmental agencies, manufacturers, and marketing intermediaries. Consumer groups are pressuring manufacturers to reduce waste at the source. Marketing intermediaries are being pressured by consumers and manufacturers to support the national drive for recycling and adjust to consumers' demands for ecologically safe products. The urgency of the situation has prompted a number of states and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to take actions that will increase the public's awareness of packaging-related environmental issues. Some states have even suggested taxing unrecyclable packaging as a solution to the problem, which means that manufacturers would have to re-evaluate their packaging options.
As a result, balancing the environmental problem of too much packaging waste with the three essential packaging functions of protection, preservation, and promotion has become a central problem. The ability to anticipate and respond to the demands of various stakeholders is key to successful "green" packaging strategies. In turn, these strategies call for packaging that is safe to handle, safe to use and has minimal pollution impact on living things, the ecological system, and natural resources.
But what are the main problems a company is likely to encounter in its pursuit of "green" packaging? Who are the main stakeholders and how can a firm best respond to their demands? How do "green" packaging decisions influence a product's life-cycle? This article attempts to apprise marketing managers of the problems, threats, or opportunities presented by the current changes in outlook toward the environment and ecology. In so doing, it identifies the constraints faced by consumer goods manufacturers, investigates the marketing problems associated with the changes, and provides some strategic marketing options to some of today's packaging problems.
INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL CONSTRAINTS
The problems of landfills, refuse, and hazardous waste are all too obvious.(10) Everyone agrees that these problems are serious. Where manufacturers...