Squeezy come, squeezy go – plastic beats glass in battle of the bottles

Research commissioned by the British Plastics Federation's Packaging Group and carried out independently by YouGov, which surveyed 2157 UK respondents, shows that when it comes to the Nation’s favourite table sauce, 77 percent would rather squeeze their tomato ketchup out of a plastic container than shake it out of a glass bottle.

In the battle of the sexes, although everybody prefers to dispense their ketchup out of a plastic bottle, more women (79 percent) than men (74 percent) like a squeeze!

With 77 percent of UK respondents opting for the plastic squeezable bottle, the BPF says this highlights the many beneficial properties of such a container for tomato ketchup, citing the firm yet flexible packaging and top-down design to minimise wastage as some of the key examples.

In addition to tomato ketchup plastic bottles, other plastic containers also came out as favourable in the YouGov survey. When asked to rank products in terms of their safety, convenience, versatility, innovativeness and openability, plastic containers (plastic beans container, plastic shower bottles, plastic margarine tubs and plastic water bottles) collectively gained 70 percent and over of votes by respondents.

Boosting the safety aspect of plastic bottles and containers, consumers were asked to rank a glass bottle, a plastic bottle, a cardboard carton and a metal can in terms of their practicality and safety across all areas in the household. In the kitchen, bathroom, shower cubicle, bedroom and nursery, plastic bottles were ranked as the most safe and most practical 100 percent of the time. 

Philip Law, Director General Designate of the BPF, commented on the results of the YouGov survey: '”These independent findings tell an important story: that the plastics packaging industry has researched and responded successfully to the needs and preferences of UK consumers of all ages. Not only does plastics packaging address society's sustainability goals, it gets the basic job done extraordinarily well - protecting the product and helping the consumer to use it easily.”

The full results of the YouGov survey will be launched at the BPF’s ‘Plastics in Packaging’ seminar, which will take place at the BPF’s offices on June 12th.