Plastic alternatives and substitutes in the packaging sector – A UK consumer perspective

Abstract

Alternative and substitute materials to conventional plastic packaging offer a range of potential opportunities to help reduce the environmental impacts of single-use plastic. Policymakers and industry stakeholders are currently debating measures to address the plastic pollution crisis globally, but successful implementation of new policies or packaging technologies will require understanding of consumer perspectives and consumer acceptability. The present study aimed to examine consumer perceptions around plastic alternatives and substitutes by employing a life cycle approach. The Kano model of consumer satisfaction was used to investigate how UK consumers (n = 1177) responded to a variety of environmentally relevant attributes and end-of-life scenarios for different types of packaging (conventional plastic, biodegradable plastic, and glass). These responses were further grouped based on sociodemographic characteristics of the consumers including age, gender and level of education, as well as psycho-environmental variables such as nature connectedness. We show that consumers valued recyclability or compostability of packaging as preferable end-of-life attributes, and that overall consumers considered the release of plastic packaging into the natural environment an unacceptable end-of-life scenario. Concerningly, this was not the case for packaging made of biodegradable plastic or glass, highlighting the potential for alternatives and substitutes to increase the proportion of mismanaged waste. All four consumer groups had distinct profiles of responses to packaging sustainability attributes and end-of-life scenarios: ‘Educated environmentalists’, consisting mostly of female consumers, considered all of the attributes of interest to be important, whereas ‘Older, less educated coastal dwellers’ showed similar responses but rated four out of seven sustainability attributes of biodegradable plastic packaging as irrelevant. ‘Non-environmentalists’ perceived all attributes as irrelevant, as did ‘Nature-connected egocentrists’, with the exception of glass being made of recycled material. Overall, our findings indicate that consumers are not sufficiently informed about the environmental impacts and opportunities around packaging, highlighting the need for appropriate consumer education to support policy and industry in implementing the UN Plastics Treaty.