(Not) Doing the Right Things for the Wrong Reasons: An Investigation of Consumer Attitudes, Perceptions, and Willingness to Pay for Bio-Based Plastics

Maria V Zwicker,Cameron Brick,Gert-Jan M Gruter,Frenk Van Harreveld

doi:10.3390/su13126819

Abstract

Fossil-based plastics are significant contributors to global warming through CO2 emissions. For more sustainable alternatives to be successful, it is important to ensure that consumers become aware of the benefits of innovations such as bio-based plastics, in order to create demand and a willingness to initially pay more. Given that consumer attitudes and (inaccurate) beliefs can influence the uptake of such new technologies, we investigated participants’ attitudes towards fossil-based and bio-based plastic, their perceived importance of recycling both types of plastic, their willingness to pay, and their perceptions of bio-based plastic in four studies (total N = 961). The pre-registered fourth study experimentally manipulated information about bio-based plastic and measured willingness to pay for different types of plastic. The results suggest participants hold very favourable attitudes and are willing to pay more for bio-based products. However, they also harbour misconceptions, especially overestimating bio-based plastic’s biodegradability, and they find it less important to recycle bio-based than fossil-based plastic. Study 4 provided evidence that educating consumers about the properties of bio-based plastic can dispel misconceptions and retain a favourable attitude and a high willingness to pay. We found mixed evidence for the effect of attitudes on willingness to pay, suggesting other psychological factors may also play a role. We discuss how attitudes and misconceptions affect the uptake of new sustainable technologies such as bio-based plastics and consumers’ willingness to purchase them.

Highlights

Plastics are an extensive family of different materials designed for specific applications.In our daily lives, we are continuously surrounded by plastic in grocery packaging, clothes, other fabrics, transportation, medical devices, household objects, and tools, including electronics
A paired-sampled t-test comparing participants’ attitudes towards conventional and bio-based plastic suggested that participants felt more favourable towards bio-based plastic than towards conventional plastic, t (507) = −16.64, p < 0.001, d = −0.74
The results suggest that both attitude towards conventional plastic (B = −0.012, t (505) = −2.49, p = 0.013, 95%CIBootstrap [−0.022, −0.003]) and towards bio-based plastic (B = 0.018, t (505) = 3.22, p = 0.001, 95%CIBootstrap [0.007, 0.029]) predict willingness to pay for a bio-based plastic product

Summary

Introduction

We are continuously surrounded by plastic in grocery packaging, clothes, other fabrics, transportation, medical devices, household objects, and tools, including electronics. In 2019, global plastics production reached 370 million tonnes, with 39.6% for packaging [1]. Consumers are becoming increasingly aware that plastic can have harmful effects on the environment, which is at least partially due to the increased media coverage on the topic over the past few years [3]. Much of consumers’ concern focuses on the post-consumption or end-of-life effects of plastic on the environment, such as recyclability, biodegradability, and reusability [4,5]. The effect of plastic on the environment, starts well before it hits store shelves—it starts with the extraction of fossil fuels.

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