While global consumers say that they value products that use sustainable packaging, their purchasing decisions are increasingly driven by a range of other factors, from food safety to durability. 

According to a survey from McKinsey of more than 11,000 consumers spread across 11 nations, respondents in all but one country ranked food safety as their most important packaging characteristic in purchasing decisions. Shelf life was the second most prioritized by consumers in all but two countries, followed on average by ease of use, durability, and label information. Environmental impact was the sixth-ranked factor by consumers across the board.

Despite that, more than half said that they generally consider environmental impacts to either be "extremely" or "very" important on a larger scale. Additionally, younger consumers indicated that they were more willing to pay more for sustainable packaging. Using Germany as an example, McKinsey described how just 1% of the country's high-income Gen Xers would be willing to pay "a lot more" for products using sustainable packaging, compared to 25% of high-income millennials, and 9% of low-income millennials. 

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When asked to rank the sustainability characteristics in packaging that consumers found most important, recyclable materials topped the list for all countries, followed on average by reusable materials, packaging made from recycled content, materials with low carbon emission impacts, compostable materials, and lightweight packaging made with less material. Compostability also showed the most variation across countries, with China, India, Italy and the U.S. ranking it in their top three, despite Mexico, Germany, Sweden, Brazil and Japan rating it in their bottom two. 

"Although sustainability concerns continue to be ranked as less important than other factors, they continue to be a critical industry-shaping trend for the packaging value chain," McKinsey said. "Packaging producers looking to stay ahead of the game will need to take a data-driven, granular, and proactive approach to their future sustainability strategy."