BASF Corporation; Cornell Belcher, Brilliant Corners Research & Strategies; and Brenda Gianiny, Axis Research
Most Packaging World readers know what circularity means to the plastics value chain. But what does it mean to the average consumer? Political pollsters representing different sides of the aisle—progressive advisor Cornell Belcher, president, Brilliant Corners Research & Strategies; and conservative advisor Brenda Gianiny, founding principal, Axis Research, today unveiled exclusive polling data conducted specifically for the American Chemistry Council's Innovation and Circularity Summit.
Consumers don't know what advanced or chemical recycling is, so the narrative around it has yet to be written.
As we might expect, public awareness of chemical/advanced recycling is very low; few Americans know what it is or how it works. But when the basics are impartially explained to them, early public polling is wildly positive—upwards of 90% favorable. This is true across the political spectrum, though it’s held most fervently among younger, college-educated, affluent, and progressive voters. Conservatives are less likely to be excited about advanced recycling, but they still lean toward favorability.
According to Belcher and Gianiny, this puts the plastics industry in an initial, baseline position of strength when plastics critics lay out their case against the material itself, and against advanced recycling technologies that would be a boon to the plastics industry.
But this early head start won’t last without further messaging, they say. As a new-to-the-public concept, a national narrative has yet to be defined. Whomever is first to drive the narrative—either detractors in quickly eroding the favorable priors, or proponents in solidifying the public’s initial instinct that the tech is good for the U.S.—will be at an advantage.
Still, despite the generally favorable baseline, advanced recycling isn’t destined to become a core issue to many Americans. And the public is easily persuadable when the topic isn’t near and dear to their heart. So Belcher and Gianiny advise that advocates of chemical recycling do two things. First, they should get out in front of the issue and drive the narrative; they can’t rest on the prior favorables since it’s a fragile sentiment that consumers aren’t likely to feel strongly about. Second, once the industry has begun undertaking the messaging campaign, they need to be very careful in which messages on which they choose to focus.
When chemical recycling is explained impartially, it's received extremely favorably, regardless of political leanings.
“When you’re in a position of power, you don’t want to punch down,” Belcher says. “Advocates that punch down are usually losing—the baseline here is that advanced recycling is a positive thing so don’t go negative.”
Going negative, in this case, would be to denigrate other materials’ sustainability and recycling profiles—there’s no need to point out the tradeoffs associated with paper, aluminum, or glass. But beyond that, given this isn’t an issue that’s likely to inspire passion, advanced recycling advocates have to focus messaging on how advanced recycling is likely to affect the average American.
“Also, don’t get wonky. I’m sure the technology is really cool, and you could make my head spin in explaining the scientific breakthroughs you’ve made in unlocking chemical recycling. But your scientific prowess isn’t going to be seen as impacting the lives of regular Americans.”
There’s a sustainability and carbon footprint case to be made for advanced recycling, but that lands best with the more progressive side of the aisle, leaving out a big swath of persuadable Americans.
These three messages in favor of chemical recycling are most potent across the political spectrum. Sustainability and circularity messaging should be targeted to more progressive pockets.
All these factors considered, Belcher and Gianiny’s polling revealed three primary messages that demonstrate to average consumers how advanced recycling can positively impact the lives of people of all political persuasions.
- Chemical recycling will keep seven billion pounds of non-recycled U.S. plastic out of landfills.
- Chemical recycling will generate 150 new facilities, and 48,500 new American jobs, with $12.9 billion in new economic output.
- Chemical recycling will create more new manufacturing jobs in the U.S. and not in foreign countries, like China.
“Stick with this messaging for the big picture,” Belcher advises chemical recycling proponents across the value chain. “You can get more granular, and focus on sustainability messaging in specific progressive pockets, but nationally, you can only really push two to three messages at a time. If you have 10 different messages, you have no message at all.”
Belcher likens the public sentiment on chemical recycling today, to that of the organic food trend of a decade ago. "Like organics before Whole Foods, consumers want this," he says. "They just don’t know it yet.”
One last interesting note from the pollsters results: the industry has been indecisive in what to call this tech. It was thought that terms like chemical or molecular recycling would turn off the public, and many in the industry pivoted to the term advanced recycling. But Belcher and Gianiny’s polling indicate that chemical recycling polled just fine. PW
