Exploring the impact of holiday gifts: An economic and environmental comparison of DVDs and books received as gifts

Abstract

To purchase environmentally-responsible gifts that are well-received by recipients, transparency in reporting welfare gain (gift value to recipient) and environmental impact are important. As a step toward greater transparency, we compared the environmental impact and welfare gain of books and DVDs received as gifts. We used life cycle assessment (LCA) to compare gift impact using two functional units: (1) one gift, and (2) two hours of in-home visual entertainment for one person. We assessed two retail scenarios for each gift: (1) online purchase with home delivery, and (2) store purchase. Results from a survey of 1000 individuals indicated that welfare gains were large and significant for books and DVDs in all price ranges. The price of the gift was significant (p<0.001 for books and DVDs) in determining welfare gain. Relationship to the giver was not significant (p = 0.060) in determining welfare gain for books, but it was for DVDs (p = 0.037) with partners choosing higher welfare gain gifts. Results indicated lower environmental impacts across all categories for e-commerce. The global warming potential (GWP) of DVDs or paperbacks ordered online was almost equivalent (2.13 and 2.12 kg CO2 eq., respectively). Ordering hardcovers online more than doubled GWP (4.58 kg CO2 eq.). DVD GWP was highly sensitive to impact from movie creation and film popularity. Using different estimates of film impact and viewings increased DVD production impact from 1.21 to between 7.2870 and 17.78 kg CO2 equivalents per DVD, making both paperback and hardcover books ecologically preferable in GWP terms. Using the second functional unit of 2 h of in-home visual entertainment for one person, book GWP dropped (1.3035 and 0.8995 kg CO2 eq. for hardcovers and paperbacks purchased in-store, respectively). While the impact of DVDs also dropped, even with 4 individuals viewing the movie at the same time, the GWP per functional unit remained higher for DVDs (at 1.5545 kg CO2 eq.). This study is a novel combination of LCA and economic surveys to better inform consumer gift choices and potentially impact consumer behavior. Results demonstrate that books and DVDs were high welfare gain and low impact gifts; impact from driving to the store exceeded gift production impact.