Accessible packaging design is the key to helping many consumers have the ability to eat and drink Author
Nerida Kelton MAIP, Executive Director, Australian Institute of Packaging (AIP)
As the Australian population ages, packaging companies would do well to look at the needs of this growing sector of the community. AIP executive director Nerida Kelton explains why.
H
ow many times have we all grabbed a knife to open a pack of food, spilt it across the kitchen because the pack was too hard to open, been unable to read the text on the pack (even with glasses on) and then vowed to never buy that brand again? Now imagine if you were part of the ageing population, hospitalised, a consumer with a disability, an arthritis sufferer or a child. All too often, accessible packaging is not considered when
designing products, which in turn leads to unnecessary frustration when opening and closing packs, reading the ingredients and opening instructions on packaging. It is important that packaging technologists consider how their packaging design could affect someone’s ability to eat, drink and the flow on of wasting food. Research from Arthritis Australia in 2018 shows that: • A ll consumers struggle with packaging, but the growing
ageing population, consumers with disabilities, arthritis sufferers and children are impacted the most. • 4 4 per cent of consumers struggle with packaging every day. • 92 per cent of consumers have spilt or damaged a product when trying to open the packaging. • W hen consumers experience hard-to-open packaging: o 56 per cent look for the product but in a different type of packaging.
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o 21 per cent look at buying a competitor’s product. 65 per cent of consumers have had to wait for someone to come and open packaging for them. 1-in-2 Australians have injured themselves opening packaging - including deep cuts and chipped teeth. 89 per cent of consumers are currently feeling frustrated or furious with packaging. 67,000 people in the UK visited hospitals’ casualty Easy-to-open packaging is now an important facet of packaging design.
44 Food&Beverage Industry News | March 2020 | www.foodmag.com.au