Differences in Perception of the Environmental and Health Impacts of Decorative Paints among Average Consumers

Mariia Hess and Jan C. Bongaerts
Additional contact information
Mariia Hess: International Management of Resources and Environment, TU Bergakademie Freiberg, 09599 Freiberg, Germany
Jan C. Bongaerts: International Management of Resources and Environment, TU Bergakademie Freiberg, 09599 Freiberg, Germany

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 11, 1-11

Abstract: Decorative paints may evaporate hazardous emissions such as volatile organic compounds and formaldehydes. Studying the paints’ packaging showed that a great amount of decorative paints available in the German market contain low concentrations of volatile organic compounds. In fact, volatile organic compounds may cause an irritation of eyes and respiratory organs, leukaemia, lymphoma and nasal cancer. This paper presents and discusses the results of a questionnaire survey, conducted among the visitors of the trade fairs for construction products in Germany, on the awareness of possible environmental and health impact of paint products. Furthermore, this paper investigates the differences in the importance values of the ecolabels and Material Safety Data Sheets for decorative paints among females and males and respondents with and without children. In order to highlight the essential findings, the key questions were analysed within statistical t -tests. According to the results, females and males do perceive various issues regarding the availability of ecolabels for decorative paints and the use of solvent-free paints differently and put different importance values on these issues. Some results of the questionnaire survey confirm findings of the previous studies on the importance of the ecolabels. Moreover, having children influenced the behaviour of the respondents towards the significance of the Material Safety Data Sheets and using solvent-free indoor paints.

Keywords: sustainability; environmental consciousness; decorative paints; questionnaire survey; ecolabels; importance value; solvent-free paints; volatile organic compounds; statistical testing; t -tests (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/11/4495/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/11/4495/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:11:p:4495-:d:366073

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().