Consumers’ Behavior toward Packaging Containing Agricultural Waste as a Plastic Filler for Food: An Exploratory Study

Korey Fennell, Jack Fehlberg, Sukhdeep Singh, Laurent M. Matuana, Sungeun Cho and Eva Almenar ()
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Korey Fennell: School of Packaging, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
Jack Fehlberg: School of Packaging, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
Sukhdeep Singh: Department of Plant Soil and Microbial Sciences, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
Laurent M. Matuana: School of Packaging, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
Sungeun Cho: Department of Poultry Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, AL 36849, USA
Eva Almenar: School of Packaging, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 3, 1-22

Abstract: Agricultural waste can be used as a plastic filler during the production of packaging, reducing the environmental impact and raw material consumption while supporting the circular economy. Despite so many efforts being made in development and characterization, consumers’ behavior toward packaging containing agricultural waste as a plastic filler for food is still unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate consumers’ awareness of and liking for packaging containing agricultural waste as a plastic filler and consumers’ perception and purchase intent of food in such packaging. Consumer survey research was conducted using an in-person questionnaire containing Likert scale, hedonic scale, and guide-type questions completed by 86 participants after showing them bread packaged in pouches made of plastic containing agricultural waste and a prompt in August of 2019. The responses were first analyzed as a whole and further evaluated using demographic and psychographic characteristics. Participants liked the use of agricultural waste to produce food packages and were willing to purchase food (bread) in this novel packaging. The aspect “reduction of harmful environmental impacts” was very important to participants if they were to purchase packaging containing agricultural waste. About 50% of participants were unsure of the performance of this packaging in terms of food quality and safety and >25% perceived no effect. Differences ( p ≤ 0.05) within the groups for specific demographic and psychographic characteristics and two-way interactions between them were found. This study shows that food packaging containing agricultural waste should be well received and that packaging choices that affect the environment, like packaging containing agricultural waste, depend on consumers’ mindset. Thus, educating consumers could contribute to reducing the packaging impact on the environment and to boosting environmentally friendly packaging acceptance.

Keywords: food packaging; byproduct; awareness; perception; liking; purchase intent; demographics and psychographics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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