IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i3p1126-d1328628.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Consumers’ Behavior toward Packaging Containing Agricultural Waste as a Plastic Filler for Food: An Exploratory Study

Author

Listed:
  • Korey Fennell

    (School of Packaging, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA)

  • Jack Fehlberg

    (School of Packaging, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA)

  • Sukhdeep Singh

    (Department of Plant Soil and Microbial Sciences, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA)

  • Laurent M. Matuana

    (School of Packaging, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA)

  • Sungeun Cho

    (Department of Poultry Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA)

  • Eva Almenar

    (School of Packaging, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA)

Abstract

Agricultural waste can be used as a plastic filler during the production of packaging, reducing the environmental impact and raw material consumption while supporting the circular economy. Despite so many efforts being made in development and characterization, consumers’ behavior toward packaging containing agricultural waste as a plastic filler for food is still unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate consumers’ awareness of and liking for packaging containing agricultural waste as a plastic filler and consumers’ perception and purchase intent of food in such packaging. Consumer survey research was conducted using an in-person questionnaire containing Likert scale, hedonic scale, and guide-type questions completed by 86 participants after showing them bread packaged in pouches made of plastic containing agricultural waste and a prompt in August of 2019. The responses were first analyzed as a whole and further evaluated using demographic and psychographic characteristics. Participants liked the use of agricultural waste to produce food packages and were willing to purchase food (bread) in this novel packaging. The aspect “reduction of harmful environmental impacts” was very important to participants if they were to purchase packaging containing agricultural waste. About 50% of participants were unsure of the performance of this packaging in terms of food quality and safety and >25% perceived no effect. Differences ( p ≤ 0.05) within the groups for specific demographic and psychographic characteristics and two-way interactions between them were found. This study shows that food packaging containing agricultural waste should be well received and that packaging choices that affect the environment, like packaging containing agricultural waste, depend on consumers’ mindset. Thus, educating consumers could contribute to reducing the packaging impact on the environment and to boosting environmentally friendly packaging acceptance.

Suggested Citation

  • Korey Fennell & Jack Fehlberg & Sukhdeep Singh & Laurent M. Matuana & Sungeun Cho & Eva Almenar, 2024. "Consumers’ Behavior toward Packaging Containing Agricultural Waste as a Plastic Filler for Food: An Exploratory Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-22, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:3:p:1126-:d:1328628
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/3/1126/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/3/1126/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Caroline Orset & Nicolas Barret & Aurélien Lemaire, 2017. "How consumers of plastic water bottles are responding to environmental policies?," Post-Print hal-01500900, HAL.
    2. Agnieszka Bojanowska & Agnieszka Sulimierska, 2023. "Consumer Awareness of Biodegradability of Food Products Packaging," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-16, September.
    3. Jeżewska-Zychowicz, Marzena & Jeznach, Maria, 2015. "Consumers’ Behaviours Related To Packaging And Their Attitudes Towards Environment," Journal of Agribusiness and Rural Development, University of Life Sciences, Poznan, Poland, vol. 37(3).
    4. Igor Popovic & Bart A. G. Bossink & Peter C. van der Sijde, 2019. "Factors Influencing Consumers’ Decision to Purchase Food in Environmentally Friendly Packaging: What Do We Know and Where Do We Go from Here?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(24), pages 1-22, December.
    5. Klaiman, Kimberly & Ortega, David L. & Garnache, Cloé, 2016. "Consumer preferences and demand for packaging material and recyclability," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 1-8.
    6. Martinho, Graça & Pires, Ana & Portela, Gonçalo & Fonseca, Miguel, 2015. "Factors affecting consumers’ choices concerning sustainable packaging during product purchase and recycling," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 58-68.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Martinez-Carrasco Martínez, Laura & Brugarolas Mollá-Bauzá, Margarita & Gascón Mora,Andrea, 2020. "A consumer behaviour approach to analyse the sustainability of food purchasing," Economia Agraria y Recursos Naturales, Spanish Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 20(02), December.
    2. Sisi Wu & Xuan Gong & Yunfei Wang & Jian Cao, 2022. "Consumer Cognition and Management Perspective on Express Packaging Pollution," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-23, April.
    3. Mahmoud Abdulai Mahmoud & Ernest Kafui Kwasi Tsetse & Ernest Edem Tulasi & Donne Komla Muddey, 2022. "Green Packaging, Environmental Awareness, Willingness to Pay and Consumers’ Purchase Decisions," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-14, December.
    4. Monica Fait & Dirk Meissner & Gian Luca Gregori & Filippo Monge & Valentina Cillo, 2022. "To act or to react? The role of responsiveness in corporate social performance disclosure in preventing plastic pollution in the travel and tourism sector," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 29(6), pages 2065-2082, November.
    5. Ziynet Boz & Virpi Korhonen & Claire Koelsch Sand, 2020. "Consumer Considerations for the Implementation of Sustainable Packaging: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-34, March.
    6. Van Asselt, Joanna & Nian, Yefan & Soh, Moonwon & Morgan, Stephen & Gao, Zhifeng, 2022. "Do plastic warning labels reduce consumers' willingness to pay for plastic egg packaging? – Evidence from a choice experiment," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    7. Daniel Friedrich, 2022. "How environmental goals influence consumer willingness-to-pay for a plastic tax: a discrete-choice analytical study," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(6), pages 8218-8245, June.
    8. Kautish, Pradeep & Paço, Arminda & Thaichon, Park, 2022. "Sustainable consumption and plastic packaging: Relationships among product involvement, perceived marketplace influence and choice behavior," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    9. Ziyuan Tian & Xixiang Sun & Jianguo Wang & Weihuan Su & Gen Li, 2022. "Factors Affecting Green Purchase Intention: A Perspective of Ethical Decision Making," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-16, September.
    10. Saddam A. Hazaea & Ebrahim Mohammed Al-Matari & Khaled Zedan & Saleh F. A. Khatib & Jinyu Zhu & Hamzeh Al Amosh, 2022. "Green Purchasing: Past, Present and Future," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-28, April.
    11. Marisa Bock & Stephan G. H. Meyerding, 2023. "Consumer Perception of Food Product Packaging Materials Sustainability versus Life Cycle Assessment Results: The Case of Processed Tomatoes—A Quantitative Study in Germany," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(23), pages 1-25, November.
    12. Raffaelli, R. & Menapace, L., 2018. "Indirect questioning as a debiasing mechanism in preference elicitation for sustainable food? First evidence from a Discrete Choice Experiment," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277039, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    13. Menapace, Luisa & Raffaelli, Roberta, 2020. "Unraveling hypothetical bias in discrete choice experiments," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 416-430.
    14. Jianhong He & Yaling Lei & Xiao Fu, 2019. "Do Consumer’s Green Preference and the Reference Price Effect Improve Green Innovation? A Theoretical Model Using the Food Supply Chain as a Case," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-15, December.
    15. Stephanie Maitz & Paul Jakob Schmid & Clemens Kittinger, 2022. "Modelling and Determination of Parameters Influencing the Transfer of Microorganisms from Food Contact Materials," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(5), pages 1-17, March.
    16. Lee, Stacy H.N. & Chang, Hyo Jung (Julie) & Zhao, Li, 2023. "The importance of personal norms and situational expectancies to sustainable behaviors: The norm activation and situational expectancy-value theories," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    17. Muhammad Ishfaq Khan & Shahbaz Khalid & Umer Zaman & Ana Ercília José & Paulo Ferreira, 2021. "Green Paradox in Emerging Tourism Supply Chains: Achieving Green Consumption Behavior through Strategic Green Marketing Orientation, Brand Social Responsibility, and Green Image," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(18), pages 1-24, September.
    18. Monika Stoma & Agnieszka Dudziak, 2022. "Eastern Poland Consumer Awareness of Innovative Active and Intelligent Packaging in the Food Industry: Exploratory Studies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-19, October.
    19. Lindokule Mbokane & Lee-Ann Modley, 2024. "Green Consumerism in Young Adults: Attitudes and Awareness in University Students in Johannesburg, South Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-23, February.
    20. Yamna Erraach & Fatma Jaafer & Ivana Radić & Mechthild Donner, 2021. "Sustainability Labels on Olive Oil: A Review on Consumer Attitudes and Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-23, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:3:p:1126-:d:1328628. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.