After listening to Suzanne Shelton speak at a conference this winter,  I remain fascinated by her consumer insights, especially when it comes to green products. The Shelton Group’s fourth annual EcoPulse, profiling Americans’ views on green product purchases is now available.

Some interesting facts emerge from the Shelton Group survey.

• 69% of Americans report they are looking for greener products, up from 60% two years ago. Only 19% report that the economy has made them cut back on buying greener.
• 25% of consumers are driven by price while 50% choose based on brand name.
• Gender differences are based on category choice, not in their overall green purchasing.
• Over 60% of consumers report that they regularly recycle. Most Americans think that recycling is the most important of the three Rs (recycle, reuse and reduce). 28% says reducing consumption and 17% reusing is the most important way to reduce their environmental footprint.

Two things in this report really stood out for me.

1. The most important things on the food product label is “grown in the USA” which tied for first with “100% natural.” Shelton also saw considerable interest in “made in the USA” and “not made in China.”
2. Almost one third of Americans now consider a company’s environmental record to be the best guide, behind analyzing the ingredients or other details on the package such as green claims.

At Package Machinery, we take pride in our efforts to help our wrapping machinery customers reduce their film use through overwrapping, since we know that film is seldom, if ever, recycled. We are proud of our machines’ ability to run various green films along with paper and BOPP, since we know that this gives our customer options down the road that may not be economical today. Lastly, we pride ourselves on our machines’ ability to wrap with the lowest gauge film possible, lower than other overwrappers on the market. Check out our machines.

recycling instructions on product package

I can’t close without a pitch for helping the consumer out by telling them about the packaging and what to do with it.