In an article published on June 2, 2022, in the Journal of Cleaner Production, Zhaoyun Yin and co-authors from Xi’an Jiaotong University, Shaanxi, China, evaluated how the perceived policy effectiveness of waste recycling influences recycling behavior. For their “quasi-experimental research,” Yin et al. surveyed a total of 874 residents of Kunming, China, which is one of 46 cities in China in which municipal solid waste source-separation collection is promoted. Participants were divided into groups of those with high or low levels of perceived policy effectiveness (458 and 202, respectively), and people unaware of the waste policy (214). Each participant had to fill out a questionnaire designed to measure behavior, their perception of the policy, and demographic characteristics and were subsequently divided into groups based on their perception scores.
Yin and co-authors found that a high level of perceived policy effectiveness could promote a person’s recycling behavior while a low level could hinder it. As an explanation for the latter, they specified that “residents generally have high expectations for the effectiveness of the public policy. Once they perceive that the actual effect of waste recycling policy is lower than expected, they will have a sense of distrust to the government.” In contrast, people who perceive a high level of effectiveness would rather translate their recycling intention into actual action. Concerning the mechanisms of perceived policy effectiveness, the scientists reported that subjective norms and perceived behavioral control are the main influencing factors. And, according to the article, policy regulations are a source of social norms in China. Moreover, the authors identified the perceived convenience (e.g., the number of recycling bins) as an important factor influencing a person’s perceived policy effectiveness.
Based on their findings, Yin et al. provided five recommendations to improve waste recycling including through citizen surveys, education, and increasing convenience. A previously published study had investigated whether social media can affect consumers’ intentions to recycle plastics, which was not the case (FPF reported).
An even more favorable option in the hierarchy to reduce waste is to reuse packaging by refilling or returning it. In an article published on March 24, 2022, in the peer-reviewed journal Sustainable Production and Consumption, Sarah C. Greenwood from the University of Sheffield, UK, and co-authors analyzed requirements to increase the reuse of packaging. To follow their objective, the researchers considered two factors: environmental impacts and consumer behavior. Environmental impacts were analyzed cradle-to-grave by performing life cycle assessments (LCA) on eight takeaway containers commonly used within the UK and representing different single-use (e.g., aluminum tray), refill (e.g., mess tin), and return options (e.g., return Tupperware). To evaluate the consumers’ willingness to reuse, as well as reasons and ways of doing so, Greenwood et al. conducted an online survey with 276 residents in the UK aged 18 to 75 years old.
For plastics, the LCA showed that refillable and returnable containers have a lower global warming potential compared to their single-use alternative after two to four uses. Reusable steel containers “must be used considerably more times to break-even with single-use packaging on global warming potential,” but they are more durable and “could also represent a viable option for reusable packaging systems” when consumers would engage in reusing them. According to the survey, consumers are more willing to recycle compared to reuse. In addition, the scientists reported that the willingness to reuse was rather dependent on the nature of the packaging than its content. In general, the willingness of a person to engage with a system was higher for familiar systems.
Greenwood and co-authors highlighted that their findings “illustrate the need for a multi-disciplinary approach in order to determine where and how to implement reusable packaging systems with the aim of making their adoption mainstream.”
In an article published on June 15, 2022, in the Journal of Cleaner Production, Giulia Granato and co-authors from Wageningen University and Research, Netherlands, assessed consumers’ decisions on sustainable packaging when they involve trade-offs and compromises. The scientists surveyed 5053 participants from Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, France, and Greece in November 2019 on their socio-demographic/economic characteristics, values, purchase intention, benefits’ perceptions (e.g., sustainability, convenience), and food-related lifestyle. They differentiated between different product categories (e.g., biscuits, fresh salad) and packaging sustainability benefits (e.g., biodegradable, paper).
The authors reported that “sustainability appreciation can spill over to other conventional benefits, such [as] convenience, aesthetic quality or the perceived ability of the packaging to preserve the content.” Eco-design elements, such as biodegradability, generate positive associations with the packaging and can balance out negative associations. In that way, consumers would not perceive certain drawbacks, such as less preservation, or convenience, but continue to hold a positive attitude towards sustainable packaging. However, when more than one benefit had to be sacrificed consumers lost their positive attitude. According to the authors, this needs consideration from packaging designers to keep attraction to sustainable packaging high. Granto et al. think that their research leads to a better understanding of consumers ‘acceptance of sustainable technology, and factors influencing acceptance and therefore provides practical implications for sustainable packaging design.”
References
Granto, G. et al (2022). “The price of sustainability: How consumers trade-off conventional packaging benefits against sustainability.” Journal of Cleaner Production. DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.132739
Greenwood, S. L. et al (2022). “Many Happy Returns: Combining insights from the environmental and behavioural sciences to understand what is required to make reusable packaging mainstream.” Sustainable Production and Consumption. DOI: /10.1016/j.spc.2021.03.022
Yin, Z. et al (2022). “New pathway exploring the effectiveness of waste recycling policy: A quasi-experiment on the effects of perceived policy effectiveness.” Journal of Cleaner Production. DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.132569
