An important area of focus for the reduction of domestic waste is packaging and food packaging specifically. At some point in the life of packaging in the consumers' home, the packaging goes through a transition from something of use, of value and of worth to the consumer to something that is no longer any of these. Being able to identify attributes of packaging that might have an impact on this transitional point to change the use or value so that the packaging is re-used, recycled or composted rather than being land-filled is very important in successfully diverting packaging waste from landfill. This research aimed to conduct a variety of tests to identify attributes of packaging that have an influence on the eventual waste route and to determine what that influence was. The research included an extensive literature study looking at consumer test methods, current waste and packaging waste studies, and packaging design literature. This was followed by a series of four tests: bin raids; digital diary; visual survey; and ethnography. These tests were designed to determine how consumers would treat specific examples of packaging in an end-of-life scenario and what influences those decisions.
