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1 Participating Manufacturers - taking responsibility for the cartridges we produce CONFIDENTIAL - for viewing by ‘Cartridges 4 Planet Ark’ partners only About This Report In early 2010, Planet Ark commissioned an independent study on the cartridge recycling behaviour of Australians. The research was conducted by Pollinate, a specialist research company. This report on the research results has been written by Planet Ark for partners of the ‘Cartridges 4 Planet Ark’ program. Consumer Behaviour & Attitudes Towards Cartridge Recycling Report on Market Research Commissioned by Planet Ark, April 2010 Contents Survey Methodology How Was the Survey Conducted? Who Responded to the Survey? Attitudes & Behaviour Towards Cartridge Recycling & the Environment Concern About the Environment Responsibility for Protecting the Environment Environmental Responsibility and Purchasing Behaviour Recycling Behaviour Motivations for Recycling Cartridges Barriers to Cartridge Recycling Consumer Awareness of ‘Cartridges 4 Planet Ark’ Brand Awareness Feelings Towards ‘Cartridges 4 Planet Ark’ Appendix About Pollinate and The Green Pulse 2 3 3 4 5 6 7 8 10 10 13 14 14
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Page 1: Consumer Behaviour & Attitudes Towards Cartridge Recyclingcartridges.planetark.org/...consumer...on-cartridge-recycling-2010.pdf · 4 Consumer Attitudes and Behaviour Towards Cartridge

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Participating Manufacturers - taking responsibility for the cartridges we produce

CONFIDENTIAL - for viewing by ‘Cartridges 4 Planet Ark’ partners only

About This ReportIn early 2010, Planet Ark commissioned an independent study on the cartridge recycling behaviour of Australians. The research was conducted by Pollinate, a specialist research company. This report on the research results has been written by Planet Ark for partners of the ‘Cartridges 4 Planet Ark’ program.

Consumer Behaviour & AttitudesTowards Cartridge Recycling

Report on Market ResearchCommissioned by Planet Ark, April 2010

ContentsSurvey Methodology

How Was the Survey Conducted?

Who Responded to the Survey?

Attitudes & Behaviour Towards Cartridge Recycling & the Environment

Concern About the Environment

Responsibility for Protecting the Environment

Environmental Responsibility and Purchasing Behaviour

Recycling Behaviour

Motivations for Recycling Cartridges

Barriers to Cartridge Recycling

Consumer Awareness of ‘Cartridges 4 Planet Ark’

Brand Awareness

Feelings Towards ‘Cartridges 4 Planet Ark’

Appendix

About Pollinate and The Green Pulse

2

3

3

4

5

6

7

8

10

10

13

14

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Executive Summary

Key findings from this survey

More than 3 out of 5 Australians say that if a manufacturer took responsibility for its used •cartridges, they would be more likely to buy their product. In general, 86% of Australians say that they consider the environment when making decisions on which products to purchase.

Many consumers are unaware that cartridges can be recycled or are unaware of appropriate •ways to recycle them. Some people intend to recycle their cartridges but do so incorrectly, including at least 14% of the population who put used cartridges into their kerbside recycling bin. A third of the population disposes of cartridges into the general waste bin.

Lack of knowledge about cartridge recycling (including whether cartridges are recyclable •and the location of drop-off points) is the largest barrier to recycling. Other barriers include disorganisation or a perceived lack of time.

Of the different cartridge recycling programs in Australia, Cartridge World and ‘Cartridges •4 Planet Ark’ are the two most commonly known and used programs, outstripping other programs in terms of consumer awareness and use. Cartridge World and ‘Cartridges 4 Planet Ark’ are perceived to be equally as trustworthy, however consumers perceive Cartridge World to have greater convenience of location and use than ‘Cartridges 4 Planet Ark’.

Survey respondents felt very positively towards ‘Cartridges 4 Planet Ark’, rating the program •highly on indicators of trustworthiness, convenience, believability and making a difference to the environment. Almost two-thirds of respondents (64%) said that they were likely or very likely to use ‘Cartridges 4 Planet Ark’ in the future.

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How Was the Survey Conducted?The quantitative survey was conducted online during the period 25th March to 30th March 2010. The survey took each participant approximately 15-20 minutes to complete.

Who Responded to the Survey?

Age

14-17 8%

18-24 14%

25-34 20%

35-49 33%

50-64 24%

In terms of cartridge purchasing behaviour, participants were divided fairly evenly into ‘heavy’ cartridge users (purchasing cartridges at least once every 2-3 months), ‘medium’ cartridge users (purchasing cartridges once every 6 months) and ‘light’ cartridge users (purchasing cartridges once a year or less often), as shown in Figure 1:

Survey Methodology

Figure 1

1,014 Australians aged 14-64 years of age responded. This sample was recruited from a major panel provider in line with specified quotas. The data is Australianpopulation representative.

Males and females were represented equally.

The proportions of participants in each age bracket are shown in Table 1.

Table 1

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Consumer Attitudes and BehaviourTowards Cartridge Recycling and the Environment

Concern About the EnvironmentThe majority of Australians (63%) remain very concerned or extremely concerned about the environment. The slight downward trend for levels of concern in late 2009 /early 2010, compared toearly2007,couldreflectanumberofpossiblefactors,suchasanincreaseinthenumberofpeople who believe that the government is ‘doing something’ about climate change; increased levelsof‘greenfatigue’;ortheimpactoftheglobalfinancialcrisis.

Figure 2

When asked about what aspects of the environment were concerning, global warming and climate change, water, pollution, waste and lack of resources emerged as key concerns. Figure 3 is a ‘word cloud’ showing the proportional frequency of words mentioned by respondents (the size of words increases with more frequent mentions):

Figure 3

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Responsibility for Protecting the EnvironmentMost respondents believe that Australian businesses and the Government should be doing more to help the environment, as shown in Figure 4:

When participants were asked who, in Australia, should bear the most responsibility for different aspects of environmental protection, the Federal Government, Businesses and Individuals were the three most commonly nominated groups.

Figure 4

Figure 5

Q: Please indicate to what extent you agree or disagree with the following statements. Use the scale of 1 to 5, where 1 means you completely disagree and 5 means you completely agree with the statement.

Agree top 2 box Disagree bottom 2 box

Overall difference to environment

Reducing greenhouse

pollution

Reducing carbon

emissions

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Impact on purchase behavior

The majority of Australians continue to consider the

environment when making purchase decisions

Q: When purchasing products, which of the following statements best describes you?

Base: Total sample aged 14-64.

Source: Pollinate Green Pulse

Environmental Responsibility and Purchasing Behaviour

Of those who purchase cartridges, more than 3 out of 5 claim that if a manufacturer was being responsible for its used cartridges, they would be more likely to buy their product.

According to the survey, the majority of Australians continue to consider the environment when making purchase decisions. 76% of respondents try to make environmentally-friendly decisions when purchasing, and another 10% claim that they almost always make environmentally-friendly decisions (see Figure 6).

Figure 6

Figure 7

More than 3 out of 5 people say that if a manufacturer was being responsible

for its used cartridges, they would be more likely to buy their product.

Likehood of purchasing a cartridge product if the manufacturer was taking responsibility for their used cartridges

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Recycling BehaviourIn general, at least 4 out of 5 respondents claim that they recycle their common household recyclables (see Figure 8). This result is in accordance with other research which shows that Australians have a positive attitude towards recycling.

However, items that are purchased and used less frequently, such as printer cartridges and mobile phones, belong in a different category when it comes to recycling behaviour. Just 43% of respondents claim to recycle all of their cartridges, while another 28% claim to recycle their cartridges some of the time.

Figure 8

Figure 9

Q: How would you describe your behavior towards recycling each of the following?

81% 81%

Q: How would you describe your behavior towards recycling each of the following items?

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However, only 14% of respondents - roughly one third of those who say that they recycle all of their cartridges - take their used cartridges to a recycling collection point (see Figure 10).

Presumably, the other two-thirds of those that claim to recycle all of their cartridges, are unaware that they are not recycling their cartridges correctly. 14% of respondents put their used cartridges in their council’s kerbside recycling bin (even though only one council out of 560 in Australia accepts cartridges for recycling in their kerbside bin). A third of all respondents dispose of cartridges in their general waste bin.

Figure 10

This gap between intended behaviour and actual behaviour highlights a significant gapin knowledgeamongst consumersabout cartridge recycling. It alsohighlights a significantopportunityfor‘Cartridges4PlanetArk’tofillthatknowledgegapandincreasecartridgereturnsto the program.

A third of respondents dispose of their cartridges in the general waste bin.

There is a signficant knowledge gap amongst consumers about

cartridge recycling, but also an opportunity for ‘Cartridges 4

Planet Ark’ to fill that gap and raise cartridge recycling rates.

I put it in my general waste

bin

I put it in the council

provided recycling bin

I take it to a recycling

collection point

I store the item for

reuse

I put them in the

compost bin

Q: Please identify what you do with each of the following items:

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A third of respondents dispose of their cartridges in the general waste bin.

Motivations for Recycling CartridgesDespite the low proportion of respondents who recycle their cartridges correctly, the majority of respondents want to recycle their cartridges. The key motivators are a sense of environmental and/or social responsibility, doing ‘the right thing’ and habit.

Figure 11.a.

Figure 11.b.

Base: Among those that purchase cartridges and say that they recycle

Key Triggers to Cartridge Recycling

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Barriers to Cartridge RecyclingRespondents who purchase printer cartridges but don’t recycle (243 people) were asked to nominate the reasons why they don’t recycle. Respondents could nominate multiple reasons, but were asked to identify one reason as the main reason.

As shown in Figure 12, accessibility of drop-off locations was the primary barrier for a third of respondents, either because they didn’t know where the drop-off locations were or because they perceived the drop-off locations as inconvenient.

Figure 12

For another third of respondents, lack of knowledge or understanding was the key barrier to cartridge recycling. These respondents were not aware that cartridges could be recycled.

22% of respondents said that the main reason why they didn’t recycle their cartridges was because they forgot or didn’t have time to take their cartridges to a drop-off location.

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The key barriers to cartridge recycling are shown in Figure 14:

Figure 14

When the barriers to recycling were broken down by frequency of cartridge use, different patterns emerged for the different user groups (heavy, medium and light users). In Figure 13, the numbers in bold indicate whenever one group was signficantlydifferentfromtheothertwo.Forexample,heavyusersweremorelikelythan light and medium users to say that they don’t know where to take their cartridges for recycling, or that they don’t have time to take cartridges to a drop-off location.

Figure 13

Key Barriers to Cartridge Recycling

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Consumer Awareness of ‘Cartridges 4 Planet Ark’

Brand Awareness‘Cartridges 4 Planet Ark’ and Cartridge World dominate the consumer sphere of cartridge recycling, according to key indicators of consumer knowledge, attitude and use of the major recycling programs in Australia.

Figure 15 shows the level of consumer awareness of 6 cartridge recycling programs: Cartridge World, ‘Cartridges 4 Planet Ark’, Lexmark, SITA, HP Planet Partners Program and Cartridge Rescue. Levels of awareness of individual programs are shown in green, and levels of use of individual programs are shown in grey. All survey repondants, including those that do not use or purchase cartridges, were asked to respond to this question.

Figure 15

It is possible that the number of respondents who have returned a cartridge to ‘Cartridges 4PlanetArk’ isunderestimated inFigure15,asasignificantnumberofresponsesthatarecategorised as ‘Other’ relate to retail collection points which participate in ‘Cartridges 4 Planet Ark’(e.g.AustraliaPost,Officeworks,HarveyNorman).

Brand health summary: Recycling collection program Q: What recycling drop off r collection services are you aware of?

Q. Which of the following printer cartridge recycling programs do you currently use?

Base: (n=1014)

Other (Specify)

None of these

Post office, Office works, Harvey Norman, through school, council…

Brand health summary: Recycling collection program Q: What recycling drop off r collection services are you aware of?

Q. Which of the following printer cartridge recycling programs do you currently use?

Base: (n=1014)

Other (Specify)

None of these

Post office, Office works, Harvey Norman, through school, council…

Aware

Currently Use

Q: What recycling drop off or collection services are you aware of?Q. Which of the following printer cartridge recycling programs do you currently use?

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Aware

Currently Use

Other (Specify)

None of these

Post office, Office works, Harvey Norman, through school, council…

Q: What recycling drop off r collection services are you aware of?

Q. Which of the following printer cartridge recycling programs do you currently use?

Base: (n=370)

Aware

Currently Use

When responses was restricted to only those who take their used cartridges to a cartridge recycling point (370 people), the dominance heldbyCartridgeWorldand‘Cartridges4PlanetArk’increasedsignficantly.

Figure 16

Cartridge World’s top position in terms of consumer awareness and use may be attributable to a number of factors including Cartridge World’s well-signed, conveniently-located shopfronts (often located in or around major shopping centres) as well as their strong advertising presence relative to ‘Cartridges 4 Planet Ark’.

Q: What recycling drop off or collection services are you aware of?Q. Which of the following printer cartridge recycling programs do you currently use?

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‘Cartridges 4 Planet Ark’ and Cartridge World are equally regarded in trustworthiness, but ‘Cartridges 4 Planet Ark’ is perceived to be less convenient to use.

Figure 17 shows the results when respondents were asked to choose the cartridge recycling program that they felt best matched certain statements about trustworthiness, usability and uniqueness. Only those participants who had some awareness of at least one recycling program were asked to respond.

In Figure 18, the pool of respondents was narrowed further to include only those who took their cartridges to a collection point (370 people). Amongst this group of respondents, Cartridge World and ‘Cartridges 4 Planet Ark’ far outstripped the other programs, although ‘Cartridges 4 Planet Ark’ still lagged behind Cartridge World in convenience of use and location.

Figure 17

Figure 18

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Feelings Towards ‘Cartridges 4 Planet Ark’Survey respondents were asked to read the following statement about ‘Cartridges 4 Planet Ark’ before answering a series of questions relating to how they felt about the program:

“The ‘Cartridges 4 Planet Ark’ program has thousands of collection boxes in Australia Post, Officeworks, Dick Smith Harvey Norman and other stores around the country. All the cartridges collected through the program are recycled with zero waste going to landfill. The program is paid for by the cartridge manufacturers – meaning they are taking responsibility for the cartridges they produce.”

Strongly disagree

Strongly agree

Top 2 Box agree

The results (see Figure 19) show that ‘Cartridges 4 Planet Ark’ is well received by Australians and is performing well on all key performance indicators. 82% of respondents think that the program makes a difference to the environment and 72% think that the program is believable.

Figure 19

64%

Extremely likely

Extremely unlikely

When asked if they were likely to use ‘Cartridges 4 Planet Ark’ in the future, almost a third (29%)of respondents said they were extremely likely to use it, and a total of 64% of respondents said they were likely to use it (see Figure 20). In other words, at least 3 out of 5 Australians are more likely to use ‘Cartridges 4 Planet Ark’ (if accessibility is not a barrier).

Figure 20

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Appendix

About Pollinate and The Green PulseSince 2007 Pollinate has surveyed over 15,000 Australians via the Green Pulse.

The Green Pulse is an online omnibus dedicated to understanding people’s attitude towards the environmentanditsinfluenceonconsumerbehaviour,brandloyaltyandcorporatereputation.It is an ongoing, representative market monitor that goes out to a sample of randomly selected people across Australia.