Green dot | Grüner punkt

The Green Dot is a symbol first introduced in 1994 by Duales System Deutschland, which implemented a novel financing system for recovering packaging by licensing the green dot — to its manufacturers and setting up a system to collect used packaging bearing this symbol from the end-user. Since 1994 this system has been adopted in eleven European countries altogether.

Herbes C. Beuthner C, Ramme I. (2019) ‘How green is your packaging—A comparative international study of cues consumers use to recognize environmentally friendly packaging’. International Journal of Consumer Studies. 44, 258-271. [DOI].

Aim of visuals: How to recognise environmentally friendly packaging.
People: 3000 people in Germany (1032 interviews), France (226 face-to-face, 227 online), and USA (610 online interviews).
Method: A combination of online and face-to-face interviews. Open ended and closed ended format.
Effect of visuals: Consumers in Germany and the United States relied on information on the packaging and named searching for information as one of their preferred ways to decide whether packaging is environmentally friendly. French consumers seemed less trusting of published information and more trusting of the look and feel, especially the material, of the package. The fact that our German respondents showed such high confidence in the ‘Gruener Punkt’ label, even though that confidence was misplaced, demonstrates the powerful role labels can have in supporting consumers in their desire for environmentally responsible action.
Suggestions for design: Page 267: ‘Labels should communicate unambiguously figures of merit for whole-life environmental performance in a format that consumers can quickly recognize, whether by standard symbols or by colours that provide instant visual cues.’
Suggestions for policy: This was the case with the ‘Gruener Punkt’ label, named by many German respondents as a sign of environmental friendliness while in truth only a sign that the producers contribute to the costs of recycling and recovery. This example illustrates how important it is to provide consumers with cues that help them make accurate assessments about the impact of their purchases.
Comment: Article is not illustrated. Grüner punkt is often misunderstood by consumers.