Consumers worldwide are spearheading a rising demand for packaging made from renewable materials and products with labelling clearly displaying environmental data, Tetra Pak's fifth biennial environment survey has found.
The report also shows that recycling remains a fundamental expectation of both consumers and food industry stakeholders.
Tetra Pak said this year's survey showed a significant rise in positive attitudes towards renewable materials among food industry stakeholders.
"The findings of this year's report reinforce the importance of putting environment at the heart of our strategic agenda," the company's president and CEO, Dennis Jönsson, said.
"We have set firm commitments to reduce our environmental footprint across the value chain, to develop sustainable products and to increase recycling rates, and we are making good progress towards the goals that we have set for ourselves in each of these important areas."
The survey polled over 7000 consumers and more than 200 food industry stakeholders in a total of 13 countries.
Respondents ranked the use of bio-based materials as one of the most important environmental trends shaping the future of beverage packaging.
Consumers rated cartons as the most environmentally friendly packaging type, due to the use of paper as a renewable material.
Over 50 respondents, however, indicated they believed the use of bio-based plastic will further improve the environmental performance of carton packaging.
The report also identified a growing consumer demand for more environmental information on labelling.
In order to make informed choices, 37 per cent of consumers regularly search for environmental logos on food packaging, with 54 per cent saying they trusted environmental labels compared with 37 per cent in 2011.
Sorting and setting aside packaging for recycling was the number one environmental activity among consumers, with 86 per cent of respondents saying they regularly sort and set aside packaging for recycling.
The ability to recycle packaging material was regarded as a top priority among food industry stakeholders when developing a product or a service.
