Rinki’s consumer campaign promotes collaboration and functional recycling rules
More than 70 percent of all packaging waste is recycled in Finland, so the majority of Finnish people clearly include sorting in their daily routines. Very few consumers, however, know how recycling is organised, who pays for it and what the role of an individual consumer is in the process. Rinki took these questions as the starting point as it set out to create the 2021 consumer communication campaign, which focuses on producer responsibility for packaging and the role of consumers in the smooth recycling of packaging.
The campaign slogan “Let’s make sure that packaging is recycled” embodies the campaign idea: the recycling of packaging of products sold in Finland is mainly taken care of and also largely funded by the companies that pack products and import packed products. Consumers, in turn, are responsible for taking empty and clean packaging to a collection point, either to one at the building where they live or to the nearest Rinki eco take-back point. When everyone plays their part, packaging materials are returned to circulation as raw materials for new products and packaging.
Sorting and recycling are part of a product’s life cycle
The main function of packaging is to protect products until they are used and, consequently, to minimise waste. Once a package has done its job, it should be returned to circulation.
The campaign films, made in the spirit of the 1960s, explain the issue: a consumer buys a product and takes the empty packaging to the collection point.
– We want the campaign to familiarise consumers with the idea of producer responsibility in an easy way. The aim is to make people aware of the fact that everyone is needed in the recycling process: companies with producer responsibility, which finance the system, as well as consumers, whose job it is to return clean, empty packaging for collection, says Juha-Heikki Tanskanen, CEO of Finnish Packaging Recycling RINKI Ltd.
The campaign also focuses on the tidiness of Rinki eco take-back points and the quality and cleanliness of recycled materials, which is essential for the recycling process. Untidy eco take-back points make recycling difficult for consumers and businesses.
We want the campaign to familiarise consumers with the idea of producer responsibility in an easy way.
Rinki’s campaign was launched on Global Recycling Day on 18 March, and it will continue until the end of May. The campaign content is widely available on online media, radio, social media as well as Rinki’s and its partners’ channels.
Rinki member companies are also offered the opportunity to use the materials during the campaign. If your company is a member of Rinki and you are not using the materials in your company’s communications yet but would like to, please contact rinki.viestinta@rinkiin.fi. Please note, that the materials are mostly in Finnish.