In this episode, Lindy Hughson, managing editor & publisher of PKN Packaging News, talks with Dr Kim Borg from the Monash Sustainable Development Institute’s research enterprise Behaviour Works Australia, about the recent research into the impact of tailored messaging on consumers' approach to single-use plastics.

The research study was led by Dr Borg, along with colleagues Professor Jo Lindsay and Dr Jim Curtis and was conducted among 1,001 Victorian adults to determine how media content about plastic could influence perceptions, intentions and behaviours of two groups — ‘plastic users’ and ‘plastic avoiders’.

This in-depth interview not only aims at finding out the why and how behind the research but also discusses the intriguing results. Dr Borg explains the process of ensuring the results would be conclusive, including deducing different types of consumers and assessing various communication tactics on them.

The conversation turns to considering the effect that COVID-19 has had in reversing the trend to reusable packaging, due to the increased use of single-use plastic products for takeaway products driven by the hygiene-first ideology.

We wrap the episode with recommendations for environmental communicators on messaging against unnecessary and problematic (difficult to recycle) single-use plastics and introducing positive change for society.

The research findings have been published in the paper Targeted Change: Using Behavioral Segmentation to Identify and Understand Plastic Consumers and How They Respond to Media Communications in the journal Environmental Communication which can be found at: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17524032.2021.1956558

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The PKN Podcast is produced by Southern Skies Media on behalf of PKN Packaging News, owned and published by Yaffa Media.

The views of the people featured on this podcast do not necessarily represent the views of PKN Packaging News, Yaffa Media, or the guest’s employer. The contents are copyright by Yaffa Media.

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MC: Grant McHerron

Host: Lindy Hughson

Editor: Chris Visscher

Producer: Steve Visscher

PKN Packaging News - © 2021