By Brad Dorfman
CHICAGO (Reuters) - As food companies develop products to attract consumers looking to do good for their bodies, shoppers are also increasingly interested in packaging that does good for the Earth, a food and retail industry consultant said on Monday.
The push for environmentally friendly packaging has not reached the level in the United States that it has in other countries, Kenneth Harris, a managing director at Cannondale Associates, said at the Reuters Food Summit in Chicago. But foodmakers need to be aware that consumers are paying more attention about how much waste is in packaging, he said.
"How do we either take advantage of that if you want to be Machiavellian about it?" Harris said, commenting on how manufacturers can address the concerns. "Or how do we at least not find ourselves caught in a bad situation because we didn't observe that this thing was going on?"
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) last year said it would push its suppliers to cut the amount of packaging used in products sold through the world's largest retailer by 5 percent under a five-year plan that would begin in 2008.
That push could encourage manufacturers to develop more environmentally friendly packages in the United States, where Harris said consumers are not clamoring for reduced packaging waste as much as people are in parts of Europe.
RUBBISH!
In Britain, retailers like Tesco Plc (TSCO.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and J. Sainsbury Plc (SBRY.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) have seen customers pulling apart packaging and leaving it in the parking lot to send an environmental message, Harris said.
"People don't want to even take the large packages home and they've seen this huge groundswell of rubbish in the parking lot," he said. Continued...
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