New research from the UGA Terry College of Business department of marketing found that people are less likely to recycle lightweight — flimsy — waste. In some cases, lightweight packaging was 92% more likely to end up in a landfill than its beefy counterparts.
“Things that are lightweight — if they feel flimsy, if they feel low quality — there’s an assumption that they don’t have value,” said Sarah Whitley, assistant professor of marketing and co-author of the waste study. “There’s a feeling of, ‘I don’t really feel bad about whatever this thing is. It’s OK to toss it. It feels like trash; it is trash.’”
Lead author Lyndsay Loomer worked in brand marketing for a beverage manufacturer in Texas before earning her doctorate from Terry and joining the faculty as a marketing lecturer. She remembers when her firm introduced lightweight “crinkly” bottles to reduce plastic use in the late 2010s.