Why Consumers Don't Recycle Flexibles & What to Do About It
Many Americans think they’re recycling flexible packaging, but few do it correctly. New research shows confusion, misplaced confidence, and a possible path forward through consistent language and simpler education.
Proposed campaign to educate consumers on flexible packaging recyclability via Store Drop-off or other alternative collection method, even ahead of potential curbside collection.
FPA, Shelton
At the Flexible Packaging Association's (FPA's) FlexForward25 Conference yesterday, Suzanne Shelton, senior partner at ERM Shelton, shared results from a new study commissioned by the FPA and the Flexible Film Recycling Alliance (FFRA). The research, conducted by Shelton’s team, examined what stands in the way of U.S. consumers recycling flexible packaging (beyond all of the logistical and technical challenges that occur once flexible packaging gets to a Material Recovery Facility (MRF). It asked what might motivate them to recycle the material, whether through in-store drop-off or future curbside programs.
“The consumer is a key piece of the equation,” Shelton said. “We can increase demand for the material, we can increase store drop-off locations, we can try to figure out curbside. There’s all this stuff we can do. But at the end of the day, if we don’t get average human beings to do the thing we need them to do to give us back the flexibles, then it is all for nothing.”Suzanne Shelton, Senior Partner, ERM Shelton
Background: How consumers view sustainability
With context drawn from nearly two decades of consumer sustainability research, Shelton's firm, now part of ERM, surveys consumers twice a year to understand beliefs and expectations around environmental issues. “Most of us here in America and in the 12 countries we survey want to be eco-friendly and buy that way,” she said.
Globally, 73% of respondents say they want to be seen as someone who buys and uses eco-friendly products, up from 32% a decade ago. In the U.S., that figure is now 44%. Shelton said this represents a shift toward “virtue signaling”—consumers wanting others to see them as “good humans by virtue of the products they buy.”Survey reveals 73% want to buy eco-friendly products across 12 countries. In the U.S., that number lags at 44%, but it has grown over the past few years so the arrow is pointed up. FPR, Shelton ERM
Consumers’ perception of what makes a product eco-friendly is often narrow. “In a consumer’s mind, it is preservation of natural resources and protection of human health,” Shelton said.
Concerns about chemicals—what’s in me, on me, and around me—shape those judgments. When it comes to recycling, she added, the emotional drivers are strong.
“Around the world, basically all of us think recycling helps the environment. Ninety-two percent think it’s the bare minimum we can do, and 91% say recycling makes them feel better about the amount of things they purchase or consume.” For many, recycling has become a moral permission slip. “I can buy whatever I want, and when I’m done with it, I’ll put it in the blue bin and it will go to a magical place called ‘away’ and become something else.”
But while consumers see recycling as a personal duty, they also assign responsibility elsewhere.
“Seventy-nine percent of people around the world hold companies [brands and CPGs] strongly responsible for making changes that would positively impact the environment,” Shelton said. “And 86% believe [brands] should have some responsibility for the end-of-life disposal of their products.”
Only 16% of Americans think companies and manufacturers are doing very or extremely well in keeping packaging waste out of the environment, and 50% say they're not doing well at all. Shelton noted that plastics in the ocean has consistently ranked as the environmental issue Americans are “most freaked out about,” even more than climate change.
“When we see the turtle with the straw in its nose, we know something occurred to us—that could be my six-pack ring, that could be my plastic bag. We don’t want to be responsible,” she said. “So then we come back to all y’all and go, y’all should take responsibility for this.”
The Study: Understanding barriers to flexible film recycling
With that context, Shelton’s team set out to identify what prevents consumers from properly recycling flexibles. The FFRA/FPA Flexible Films Survey, conducted in August 2025, included more than 2,000 U.S. respondents from states with Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) laws, states with pending legislation, and the rest of the country. The survey’s margin of error was ±2.16%.
The study explored consumers’ knowledge of flexible packaging, their self-reported recycling behaviors, and their attitudes toward end-of-life management. Respondents were also divided into four behavioral segments: Dependable Do-Gooders (13%), Motivated Movables (28%), Thoughtful Triers (24%), and Neglectful Naysayers (25%).
Dependable Do-Gooders “know the ropes,” Shelton explained. “They’re persistent, environmentally motivated, and more likely than others to recycle correctly. But they’re not totally sold on the system—they worry their efforts might not matter.” Motivated Movables “have heard of flexible films and want to do the right thing, but they often don’t.”
Thoughtful Triers “care deeply about the environment but are inconsistent in their actions.” Neglectful Naysayers “don’t recycle flexible films, don’t trust the system, and don’t know much about it.”
The segmentation helps pinpoint which audiences are most likely to change behavior. “We don’t want to waste a lot of money reaching out to the neglectful naysayers,” Shelton said. “We want to spend our money reaching out to the people we can actually move.”
What consumers know, and don’t know
When asked if they know what flexible films are, 91% of respondents said yes. But as Shelton put it, “They are delusional.” Only 6% correctly described flexible packaging when asked open-endedly. Many used terms like “plastic used for food,” “plastic you can’t recycle,” or “single-use plastics.”
The misunderstanding has direct consequences. “If you don’t really know what something is,” she said, “then can you do the thing we want them to do, which is to recycle it? Probably not.”
Shelton noted a correlation between understanding and action: “The group who seem to know the most are saying, yep, I sometimes take it back to the store for drop-off.” Yet even among those groups, misconceptions persist. Many who report recycling flexibles say they do it through curbside pickup—though in most of the U.S., those materials are not accepted curbside.
“Fifty-three percent believe curbside accepts plastic films for recycling,” Shelton said. “In reality, only a few states, and in those, only a few cities actually have curbside recycling available today for flexibles.”
“They say they recycle their flexibles. They say they get it—nine out of ten say they understand what flexible films are, and they believe that recycling is the right thing to do for the environment. But only 6% actually get the descriptions right, unaided.”
U.S. flexible film recycling rates remain around 2%, suggesting that most self-reported behavior doesn’t match reality.
“They don’t really recycle flexibles effectively,” she said. “They’re putting them in curbside where they won’t get recycled.”
To close that gap, Shelton’s team recommends three steps: clarify the language, educate with purpose, and connect with core values.
“We’ve got to be consistent and clear in our language,” she said. “We can’t all be using different words. We think the right word is flexibles—not flexible films—because it’s simple and it’s the word that popped up most often in our qualitative research.”
Education, she stressed, should be simple and actionable.
“Flexibles are flexible, and they go back to the store,” she said. “We’ve got to make that clear, consistent, and actionable.”
Motivation and values
When asked what motivates them to recycle, most respondents—60%—chose “myself” as the main driver, followed by family members and local government. “That gives us a clue,” Shelton said. “We need to lean into messaging that’s about myself and being a good person—it’s the right thing to do.”
She added that this sentiment aligns with what she considers an American value.
“We had a ‘waste not, want not’ mentality. Nobody wants to be the jerk who’s not properly recycling. Once we help them see what they’re supposed to do, it’s an easier step to get them to do the right thing.”
For many, recycling flexibles feels like a moral action tied to environmental stewardship. “People say it’s better for the environment, and that’s something that unites us,” Shelton said. “Nobody wants plastics in the environment, including all of us in this room.”
Confusing drop-off experiences
Even when consumers make it to store drop-off locations, their experiences vary widely. Shelton’s team asked ethnography participants to photograph their recycling stations.
“Look at the different range of experiences that people are having [image above],” she said. “Some look like trash cans. Some have discarded food spilling out. Others are clean and inviting. It’s just a range.”
Her takeaway: “If we can have a consistent appearance and experience for consumers on the flexibles, you’ll feel more inviting. Folks will feel like, oh, I know what I’m supposed to bring here and I want to do it.”
Shelton suggested that while in-store drop-off is a useful stopgap until curbside infrastructure expands, it must be streamlined, consistent, and inviting to work at scale.
Where to go next
Shelton outlined four key actions for the industry: 1. Clarify the language — Use consistent, industry-wide terminology for flexibles. 2. Educate with purpose — Keep messages clear, actionable, and repeated. 3. Connect with values — Link flexible recycling to personal responsibility and doing the right thing. 4. Bridge the infrastructure gap — Improve in-store collection consistency while building toward curbside access.
With these steps, she said, “We now have the chance to change the flexible film narrative for the better.”
Shelton’s team has already mocked up examples of what a national consumer campaign might look like, built around the phrase Let’s Get Flexible. Posts and ads would feature everyday items—like grocery bags, bread bags, and pouches—paired with short, upbeat messages such as “It’s not a stretch. Bring them to your local bin today.”
She also emphasized partnering with retailers and social media influencers to amplify the message.
“Partnering with retailers matters,” she said. “They can run ads in store, do shelf talkers, put messages out on social media, and it all matters. We saw an exponential lift in sales and favorability when we did this for the steel food can industry.”
Success, she says, depends on collaboration among associations, producers, and Producer Responsibility Organizations such as the Circular Action Alliance (CAA).
“Let’s run this in a few key markets. Let’s see what kind of lift we get,” she said. “Are we able to improve the rate of recycling? Are we able to improve favorability? Are we able to improve knowledge?”
“We want to increase the rate of flexible film recycling [among consumers],” she concluded. “We think it’s possible.”
Hiring remains a major challenge in packaging, with 78% struggling to fill unskilled roles and 84% lacking experienced workers. As automation grows, companies must rethink hiring and training. Download the full report for key insights.
Suzanne Shelton, Senior Partner, ERM Shelton
Survey reveals 73% want to buy eco-friendly products across 12 countries. In the U.S., that number lags at 44%, but it has grown over the past few years so the arrow is pointed up. FPR, Shelton ERM
