Investigating UK School-Aged Children’s Sustainable Food Packaging Disposal Knowledge and Engagement Levels in Ecologically Valid Settings

Victoria Norton and Stella Lignou ()
Additional contact information
Victoria Norton: Sensory Science Centre, Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences, Harry Nursten Building, University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading RG6 6DZ, UK
Stella Lignou: Sensory Science Centre, Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences, Harry Nursten Building, University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading RG6 6DZ, UK

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 16, 1-12

Abstract: There is a growing emphasis on sustainable approaches; however, consumer-related barriers can modulate adherence. Therefore, engaging future generations from an early age in adopting sustainable food-packaging practices is fundamental. This paper investigates food-packaging-related knowledge, preferences, and engagement levels at a UK science-based event. School-aged children (n = 255; 8–18 years) completed various activities to initiate conversation encompassing food packaging disposal, symbols, issues, preferences, and behaviour, as well as educational-based discussions. Most children were able to select the correct response for disposal-related questions; however, they struggled to correctly identify the appropriate bin for used food items (e.g., pizza box). Children’s knowledge of symbols varied considerably: Mobius loop and Fairtrade symbols were easily recognisable, whereas there was no clear consensus/poor knowledge for the remaining symbols. Children’s main food packaging issues were ‘excessive packaging’ and ‘bins are full’ and key information searching locations were labels-on-pack and digital sources. Currently, 51% of the children adopt sustainable approaches; therefore, engaging more children in such practices is essential. 77% of the children were interested in changing future food-packaging behaviour. Going forward, sustainable food-packaging practices need to be incorporated into the school curriculum to promote engagement as well as improving infrastructure so that children can easily implement appropriate practices; thus, resulting in notable societal impact.

Keywords: sustainability; food packaging; children; engagement; education (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/16/7235/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/16/7235/ (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:16:y:2024:i:16:p:7235-:d:1461907

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 ().