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News & Insights

Circular Voice 2024

Manufacturing

Retail

Circular Voice 2024

Times of change

Every day, we choose to consume different products and services. Some choices have a greater impact on sustainability than others. But what influences us when we make these decisions?

Of course, many aspects contribute to our behavior – perhaps most notably supply and availability – which in turn are effects of decisions made in business and politics, based on decisions made long before products reach the stores, whether physical or online. To pave the way towards a circular economy and create better conditions for sustainable behavior in the future, we need to understand today’s consumers. That is why we have produced Circular Voice. A report that deep dives into consumers’ views and behaviors regarding sustainability from various perspectives.

The results show that consumer confidence in companies’ sustainability work has declined over
the last five years. At the same time, interest in questions regarding sustainability have increased. In other words, there appears to be room for improvement in how companies communicate – and significant opportunities for those who succeed in doing so in a credible way.

Discover key insights from the reportConsumer confidence
Credibility and transparency
Barriers and motivations
Recycling and politics
The role played by the EU

examples of insights featured in the report:

Trust is declining - but interest in sustainability work is increasing

While trust has declined, consumers’ interest in companies’ communication about sustainability
initiatives and environmental initiatives has increased significantly over the past five years. A majority of the respondents (53%) said that they have become a little or much more interested, with Sweden (57%) and Denmark (56%) showing the highest levels of increased interest. In contrast, 15% of consumers report that their interest has decreased slightly or significantly during the same period. A quarter of respondents (28%) stated that their interest remained unchanged.

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The survey was conducted by Ipsos on behalf of Stena Recycling in May 2024.

A total of 5,000 consumers aged 18–65 years in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Poland participated in the study, with 1,000 respondents in each country.

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