Accessing Consumer Perceptions of the Effectiveness of the Deposit Refund System

Aggeliki Konstantoglou, Thomas Fotiadis, Dimitris Folinas (), Athanasios Falaras and Konstantinos Rotsios
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Aggeliki Konstantoglou: Department of Production Engineering and Management, Democritus University of Thrace, 671 00 Xanthi, Greece
Thomas Fotiadis: Department of Production Engineering and Management, Democritus University of Thrace, 671 00 Xanthi, Greece
Dimitris Folinas: Department of Supply Chain Management, International Hellenic University, 570 01 Thessaloniki, Greece
Athanasios Falaras: Department of International Business, Perrotis College, American Farm School, 551 02 Thessaloniki, Greece
Konstantinos Rotsios: Department of International Business, Perrotis College, American Farm School, 551 02 Thessaloniki, Greece

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 12, 1-19

Abstract: This study analyzes consumers’ perceptions of the Deposit Refund System (DRS) initiative in Greece. It aims firstly to measure the effectiveness of these systems in Greece. Secondly, based on elements from the Theory of Green Purchased Behavior, it identifies the motives of DRS users and how they affect DRS usage and perception. Data were gathered using a mail-out survey to consumers in various cities in Greece. The key finding supports the argument that moral motives significantly lower the costs associated with household recycling efforts. Moreover, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) is used to examine the research hypotheses. The findings reveal that the DRS motives positively and statistically significantly affect the process of recycling and user perception of DRS. Moreover, the DRS perception affects the adoption of the DRS and complementary mediates the effect of motives for DRS adoption. The normalized model shows that an increase in motives by 1 unit will increase the perception of consumers for refundable recycling by 0.346 units. Similarly, an increase in the motives by 1 unit will increase the use of refundable recycling by 0.296 units.

Keywords: recycling; packaging; deposit refund system; circular economy; case study; Greece (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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