Written by Annika Wong
Neema Pourian, the Director of Engineering, and Brian Arendt, a Senior Engineer at Marks, spoke on Day 2 of Colloquium about the importance of the How2Recycle Program and how it is used within Marks’ holistic approach regarding sustainability.
With brands at the forefront of the sustainable journey, Pourian spoke about the promising future and power that brands hold in the shift towards a more sustainable world. For this reason, Marks uses a broad approach when working with clients, rather than looking for one area in which brands can change. Within this broad approach, brand-level sustainability has seen a variety of issues regarding recycling and the effectiveness of material recovery. Issues such as large amounts of recyclable products ending up in landfills, contamination within recycling facilities, and ineffective packaging communication for consumers are all reasons why the use of the How2Recycle program has been implemented within several of Marks’ clients’ packaging. The How2Recycle program involves using a special label that effectively communicates instructions for recycling, the recyclability category, the material used, packaging component(s), and the program website for additional information.
Arendt spoke about the benefits noticed as a result of participating in the program, with a focus on six key positives in particular. These included; educating the consumer, shifts in behaviour, improving the recycling stream, notice of immediate impact, building brand trust, and informing the roadmap for brand packaging portfolios. As more consumers expect brands to be environmentally responsible, positive results have been achieved through the participation of the How2Recycle program due to transparency about their sustainability. Ultimately, effective communication on packaging results in brand likeability, trust, and future purchases.