From Shoppers to Advocates: How Consumers Can Influence Brands to Rethink Packaging
Europe prides itself on being a leader in sustainability but walk into any supermarket or online order pickup point and the reality is different: shelves groaning with overwrapped goods, single-use plastic trays for food that could be sold loose, boxes padded with absurd layers of bubble wrap and filler. The invisible hand has a plastic transparent glove. Packaging is everywhere, and most of it is unnecessary.
Despite ambitious EU directives—the Single-Use Plastics Directive, the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) currently under debate, and the Green Deal’s circular economy agenda—brands continue to push mountains of packaging onto consumers. Why? Because packaging is cheap, it allows us to centralize production and distribution for being more profitable over local production systems, and thus, more convenient for them, while the costs of waste are exported to society at large. And too many politicians, comfortably installed in a bubble wrapped in Brussels, or everywhere, water down proposals under industry pressure.
The truth is clear: recycling won’t save us from this crisis. What we need is less packaging, period or different production systems, period. Consumers have a critical role to play in forcing that shift.
“Recyclable” Packaging. What the quotation marks means:
Brands often hide behind the word “recyclable” or “ecofriendly” without reflecting much on it. They sell products in packaging that technically can be recycled, while knowing full well that in practice, much of it ends up incinerated or landfilled. The amount of knowledge regular citizens may have to recycle is even worse. And yet even worse, “biodegradable” or “compostable” claims often turn out to be greenwashed distractions, functioning only in specialized facilities that most cities lack.
Consumers cannot afford to be fooled. We need to demand actual waste prevention, not just clever material substitutions.
Tools for Consumer Advocacy
- Vote with Your Wallet—but Not Alone
Individual boycotts to plastics, or others nature, have limited impact, but collective consumer movements can make a dent. Across Europe, campaigns like #BreakFreeFromPlastic or Zero Waste Europe put pressure on major brands by mobilizing thousands of voices. When consumers withdraw support en masse, companies are forced to listen.
- Expose and Shame Excess Packaging
21st century offers new digital tools to empower advocacy. Apps and social platforms allow consumers to document and share examples of absurd overpackaging—turning frustration into public pressure. Public shaming campaigns have already forced supermarkets in Germany, France, and Spain to pull back on some of their worst packaging practices.
- Engage With EU Policy Processes
It may sound tedious, but EU consultations and citizen initiatives are open to the public. When consumers engage, they counterbalance corporate lobbying. The ongoing debate over the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) is a perfect example: business lobbies are pushing to weaken reuse targets, while NGOs and consumer groups are fighting to keep them ambitious. Citizens showing up—digitally or physically—matters.
- Support Businesses That Lead by Example
Not every company drags its feet. Refill systems, bulk stores, and reusable container models are emerging across Europe. By actively supporting these pioneers, consumers can shift demand and prove to mainstream retailers that alternative models are viable—and profitable.
- Pushfor Binding Commitments, Not Voluntary Pledges
Voluntary corporate “sustainability goals” are often little more than PR. Consumers must demand enforceable standards. That means backing NGOs and civic platforms that push for legally binding packaging reduction targets at both national and EU levels.
The European Dimension: From just EU “Consumers” to exemplar EU “Citizens”
Europe is at a crossroads. The EU’s PPWR has the potential to set global standards for packaging reduction, with binding reuse targets and a clear hierarchy: prevent waste first, then reuse, then recycle. But lobbying is fierce. Multinationals are spending heavily in Brussels to weaken requirements, claiming reuse is “too costly” or “too complicated.”
This is where consumer advocacy becomes essential. Without public pressure, politicians will bow to industry interests. With it, Europe could lead a transformation that shifts the balance of power away from disposable packaging and toward real circularity.
The MAGNO project is a powerful example of how Europe can move beyond rhetoric. By testing scalable reusable packaging systems with businesses, policymakers, and communities, MAGNO shows that reuse is not a utopian dream but a practical, replicable model. It proves that when stakeholders collaborate instead of competing, circular solutions become viable—and consumers get real alternatives to throwaway packaging.
We need to stop pretending that “rational consumer choice” will solve packaging waste while our pockets see less money everyday, and our seas, soil and bodies are fuller of plastics. This is not just about shopping habits—it’s about citizens demanding regulation and accountability for the sake of nature and health.
The invisible hand of the market has had decades to fix this and failed. Now we need visible hands: policymakers who legislate boldly, regulators who enforce strictly, and citizens who refuse to be complicit in corporate waste.
Europe has the tools. Consumers have the voice. What remains is the courage to use them.
