The transition to a more sustainable future is also supported by the small things all of us do and choose every day. Italians are aware of this and say they are willing to change their lifestyles and consumer habits.

This is the picture painted by Nomisma’s Consumer Product Packaging Observatory, which surveyed the opinions of over a thousand people responsible for purchasing decisions aged between 18 and 65 years old.

This survey revealed that during 2020 the importance given to environmental issues only decreased for 4% of Italians, compared with an increase for 33%, while for 27% of consumers these issues also were, and still are, priorities for the post-pandemic period.

Having a greater focus on the environment involves various aspects of everyday life, from choosing to use green transport regularly (39%) and reducing food waste (81%), right up to selecting which products to put in your shopping basket: more than half of Italians (54%) say that during 2021 they will regularly buy sustainable, local and zero-mile products (50%) and organic foods (51%).

Packaging is essential in purchasing decisions, the sustainability of which is the main driver for choosing foods for 1 out of 4 Italians. Over the next 12 months, 59% of consumers are planning to regularly put products with sustainable packs in their baskets, while 14% have already stopped buying goods with non-eco-friendly packs. For Italians, the features of packs that have the greatest impact on purchasing decisions are a lack of over-packaging (55%), recyclability (43%), the use of raw materials from renewable sources or with lower CO2 emissions (43%) and the use of compostable or biodegradable materials (41%).

We need to act in a conscious way to be able to make sustainable decisions and to make the necessary ethical transition to a lifestyle that is more respectful of the environment and its resources. However, Italians think they do not have enough information on this issue to assess a product’s sustainability (26%) and would like to know more (64%).

In this “new normal”, resulting from the need to have fresh reassurances about the safety of what we buy, of new hope and quiet optimism, focusing on the environmental impact of our actions is a priority, which has not been undermined, but rather reinforced, by the current health emergency.

Image by from Polina Kovaleva from Pexels