A survey conducted by the Carton Council of North America has revealed that 61% of the total 6,936 respondents, who all live in the US, recycle their food and beverage cartons.
The figure has increased by 11% since it was last conducted two years ago.
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Carton Council of North America Recycling Projects vice-president and Tetra Pak Americas Environment vice-president Jason Pelz said: “The survey findings highlight that, as more Americans have gained access to food and beverage carton recycling, awareness that cartons are recyclable has also increased.
“This validates that the widespread consumer education conducted by companies and brands, local communities, as well as our own campaigns, is working and gives us great motivation to continue driving our efforts.”
The survey also found that 56% of the respondents are keen on choosing food or beverage brands that support environmental causes and recycling of their packaging.
A total of 92% claimed that brands should significantly help increase the recycling of packages.
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By GlobalDataOf the participants, 47% considered packaging to be a major factor for determining the recyclability of a product and 65% assumed that a package is not recyclable if it did not bear the appropriate symbol.
The survey further highlighted that 94% of the respondents believe that recycling is important, a figure that shows a significant improvement from the 90% reported in 2016.
Almost three-quarters of the questioned participants believe that recycling should become a priority.
Currently, over 62% of the US households, representing 72.6 million homes in 13,350 communities, can recycle food and beverage cartons through their local recycling programmes.
Established in 2009, the Carton Council comprises four carton manufacturers, Elopak, SIG Combibloc, Evergreen Packaging and Tetra Pak, in addition to associate member Nippon Dynawave Packaging.
The council was formed with the aim to increase recycling of aseptic and gable-top cartons used for many common food and beverage products, such as milk, juice, water, broth, soups, wine, snacks and beans.
