How Brands Can Deliver on Sustainable Snacks

For the third year in a row, snacking is up, with a majority of both Gen Z (75%) and millennials (69%) even replacing meals with snacks, according to Mondelēz International's State of Snacking report. If only these treats came in packaging that was as earth-friendly as a banana peel. Consumers are increasingly expecting companies to be good stewards of the planet, and it's no different with snack brands. According to the report, 86% of the more than 3,000 consumers surveyed buy or would like to buy snacks from companies taking steps to offset their environmental impact. And packaging is the biggest differentiator for consumers already mindful of sustainability: 45% of respondents already buy snacks in packaging that’s easily recyclable, and an additional 42% would like to buy snacks in sustainable packaging. “If people care, they care about packaging,” said Jan Dell, a chemical engineer and environmental activist, about the budding sustainability market. But that commitment comes with a risk. While the snack market is predicted to keep growing, modern consumers are more skeptical of brands’ environmental claims than ever. To counter this, experts advise prioritizing transparency and educational components in advertising—regardless of where brands are at on their sustainability journey. Exposing recycling myths It was “probably in the '90s” that the first group of advertisers thought to wrap a granola bar in green packaging, implied it was good for the planet, and increased the price, according to Matthew Pittman, an assistant professor at the University of Tennessee who studies green advertising. And it worked. That is, until folks found out this tactic wasn't good for the planet so much as companies' bottom line. Round one of greenwashing ultimately produced long-term consumer cynicism, Pittman said. Another iteration of this cycle is currently coming to a close. Recycling symbols on our trail mix wrappers and water bottles that once set consumers at ease have been exposed as largely myth, part of a broken system that doesn’t recycle much plastic at all—less than 9%, according to the EPA. Just because a container has the chasing arrows doesn’t mean it can be recycled, and just because it's in a bin doesn’t mean it gets recycled. In fact, basically no snack packaging is actually fit for the curbside recycling bin, according to Dell, who is also the founder of The Last Beach Cleanup, an environmental nonprofit focused on ending plastic pollution. The vast majority of "green" snack packaging claims are false, said Dell. “Plastic pouches you get candy in—they are not recyclable” because they have two layers that companies don’t separate. But even “if it's made up of a single type of plastic, there’s still no market for it,” Dell said. Store drop-off recycling campaigns—where you take your wrappers and bags back to the grocery—typically lead to the landfill, she said. (Dell put trackers in the receptacles to test this out.) When recycling claims come home to roost Last year, Dell sued TerraCycle whose clients include manufacturers like Nestle and Coca-Cola for misleading claims. TerraCycle can only recycle a fraction of what these companies produce, meaning that the packaging isn’t guaranteed to be recyclable. TerraCycle settled and had to change their language. Keurig also recently settled its second lawsuit for misleading recycling claims on its K-cups, this time for $10 million. The Sierra Club and California consumers are suing Coca-Cola over what they say are deceptive claims that their water bottles are 100% recyclable. And Greenpeace is suing Walmart for putting recycling stickers on items like yogurt and applesauce cups that aren’t recyclable in most locales. There is a critical difference between a snack wrapper or container that has the potential to be recycled and one that actually will be, Dell said. “[Food manufacturers] want to say their [packaging] is recyclable, but there's no way to collect it, sort it, and there's no market to buy this.” Work for Fossil Fuel Clients Exposes Agencies to Increasing Legal Risks, New Report Says Just because something goes in a recycling bin doesn’t mean it gets recycled. Very often—especially with plastic—those wrappers end up in the dump. And unlike the 1990s, there are now a host of advocates like Dell working to hold manufacturers, municipalities and recycling companies accountable. And brands aren’t just risking lawsuits. Misleading sustainability ads can stunt real change. Research has shown false claims about a product’s environmental benefit—or recyclability—deter folks from buying into sustainable lifestyles all together. Be the difference—or at least Trader Joe’s There is real progress being made in the snack packaging realm. In the U.K., Nestle switched to paper pouches for its snacks. Paper is far more biodegradable than plastic and has a much more robust recycling pipeline (though it's not perfect). Plastic packaging giant Amcor launched a paper-based packaging for snacks and candy this year. FootPrint, a material sciences startup, is helping a host of companies replace single-use plastic with plant-based fiber packaging. Some of the necessary technology for better snack packaging exists and some of it doesn’t, said Heather Knox, communications manager at Footprint. It’s a challenge to replace plastic with sustainable packaging options that protect food just as well for just as long. “I do think we are going to increasingly see brands using their packaging as a differentiating factor,” Knox said. Young consumer preferences for sustainable options, bans of certain types of plastics in progressive states and global climate goals are going to further boost this market, she explained. And if the product or brand you’re working on hasn’t made the switch to truly recyclable, biodegradable packaging, the key is simply not to add to the misinformation. Instead, be Trader Joe’s. Trader Joe’s is a snacker’s emporium, and its house brand treats come conveniently wrapped in a ton of single-use plastics. Even the produce can come wrapped in plastic. But the chain also makes no claims about where that packaging ends up, Dell said. No recyclable stickers or murky environmental messaging on the packages. Dell said she’s convinced that a lot of single-use plastic packaging can be done away with and companies can get consumers snacks in the packaging they want. But “the first thing we have to do is stop lying that this plastic is being recycled, or it will never change to something else.” Rather than gimmicks about green packaging and labels that are “so ubiquitous that they are meaningless,” Pittman advised advertisers to opt for the longer story: the one that tackles more complicated concepts and real sustainability efforts. Use ad space in the grocery aisle and Instagram tiles to explain carbon footprint and what it means to be carbon neutral versus zero emissions. Talk about how you’re decreasing water usage or how many of your employees bike to work. Find something good and genuine that your company is already doing, internationally or locally, and tell that story. Paper-Based Packaging Is All the Rage—but Is It Really the Most Sustainable Solution? The right ad campaign can educate customers about more sustainable purchases and even lifestyles. “We [often find] in our studies that information, if framed in the right way, can make a big difference in people's choices and willingness to pay for sustainability,” said Rudy Nayga, an economist with expertise in sustainability labeling at Texas A&M University. From a packaging perspective, Knox said one of the best things a brand can do, even if they haven’t perfected their sustainable packaging, is debunk misleading claims about plastic recycling. Consumers want better packaging, but many don’t know where to start. Brands that help eliminate confusion around plastic recycling—even if they don’t have their own packaging perfected—have the opportunity to increase the trustworthiness of the brand in an otherwise murky space. As consumers become increasingly media literate and skeptical, they demand this sort of authenticity, Pittman said. These approaches require more time and words, but over time they can “shape the collective imagination and vocabulary about what matters,” he explained. “The planet matters to all of us who aspire to live on it and have our ancestors do the same.”

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Consumers Want Sustainable Snacks. Here's How Brands Can Deliver

Green messaging could push the industry forward, but false claims will come with consequences

Donavyn Coffey

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Donavyn Coffey