The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Food Packaging and Consumers

Sophie Langley, Nhat Tram Phan-Le, Linda Brennan, Lukas Parker, Michaela Jackson, Caroline Francis, Simon Lockrey, Karli Verghese and Natalia Alessi
Additional contact information
Sophie Langley: School of Media and Communication, RMIT University, Melbourne 3000, Australia
Nhat Tram Phan-Le: School of Media and Communication, RMIT University, Melbourne 3000, Australia
Linda Brennan: School of Media and Communication, RMIT University, Melbourne 3000, Australia
Lukas Parker: School of Media and Communication, RMIT University, Melbourne 3000, Australia
Michaela Jackson: School of Media and Communication, RMIT University, Melbourne 3000, Australia
Caroline Francis: Fight Food Waste Cooperative Research Centre, Waite Campus, Urrbrae 5064, Australia
Simon Lockrey: Fight Food Waste Cooperative Research Centre, Waite Campus, Urrbrae 5064, Australia
Karli Verghese: Fight Food Waste Cooperative Research Centre, Waite Campus, Urrbrae 5064, Australia
Natalia Alessi: School of Media and Communication, RMIT University, Melbourne 3000, Australia

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 22, 1-24

Abstract: Food waste is a significant environmental, economic, and social issue. In many cases, packaging protects food and prolongs its shelf life, reducing the overall environmental impact by reducing food waste. This research focuses on consumer perceptions of the role of packaging and on-pack labelling in reducing household food waste. The following research questions provided the framework for the study: (1) could packaging play a role in decreasing food waste; (2) what are labelling and packaging designs’ impacts on consumer decision-making about food waste? This research draws on two qualitative studies. Study One focuses on journey mapping—following food waste throughout the consumer’s engagement with food ‘journey’ from planning to disposal. Study Two comprises a series of in-depth interviews in consumers’ homes focusing on how consumers engage with food packaging and food waste. Results indicate that there are at least two streams of consumer perceptions to consider when determining the relationship between food packaging and reducing food waste: the first is how practically useful packaging is for consumer needs; the second is consumers’ perceptions about food packaging itself. There are tensions and trade-offs between these two sets of considerations. The results of the studies show consumers are unlikely to consider food packaging or reducing food waste as a primary motivation in their food purchasing decisions. The studies also show reducing packaging, including plastic packaging, is seen as more important than reducing food waste. Our results also highlight important elements to consider when designing food packaging. These results suggest that a fundamental review is needed for many aspects of packaging and storage information and that this review should account for consumers’ information needs at different points: purchase, storage, during consumption, and between instances of consumption. Furthermore, our results suggest packaging designs that provide clear information and instructions for consumers to reduce food waste are needed.

Keywords: consumer perceptions; packaging design; food waste; packaging information; save food packaging; date labelling; packaging innovation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/22/12409/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/22/12409/ (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:13:y:2021:i:22:p:12409-:d:676081

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 ().