Greenwood, S. orcid.org/0000-0002-9780-1319, Walker, S., Baird, H.M. et al. (6 more authors) (2021) Many happy returns: combining insights from the environmental and behavioural sciences to understand what is required to make reusable packaging mainstream. Sustainable Production and Consumption, 27. pp. 1688-1702. ISSN 2352-5509
Abstract
The introduction of reusable packaging systems (both refill and return) has the potential to significantly reduce waste from single-use plastic packaging. However, for these schemes to be successful, both the environmental impact and the willingness of consumers to engage with such systems need to be carefully considered. This paper combines and discusses two complementary studies: (i) a life cycle assessment comparing the environmental impacts of single-use, refillable, and returnable containers for a takeaway meal, and (ii) a large online survey of UK adults exploring what types of product and packaging consumers are willing to reuse, how, and why. The findings of the life cycle assessment indicate that reusable containers outperform single-use plastic containers on most measures of environmental impact. The survey found that given the choice of disposal, reuse or recycling, that recycling is the preferred method of dealing with packaging once empty in the UK, and that people's decisions with regards to what types of packaging they are willing to reuse are largely driven by the aspects of the packaging itself (e.g., material and type) rather than the nature of the product inside of the packaging (e.g., state of matter of the contents). The survey also showed that people were more willing to engage in reuse systems with which they were already familiar. Additionally the language used to describe these schemes and the term ‘reuse’ needs to be considered. Combined, these factors can be used to determine the best packaging reuse system for a given product and situation.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Institution of Chemical Engineers. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) |
Keywords: | Plastic; Packaging; Reuse; Life cycle assessment; Willingness to engage |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Engineering (Sheffield) > Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering (Sheffield) The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Chemistry (Sheffield) The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > Department of Psychology (Sheffield) The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Department of Geography (Sheffield) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number NATURAL ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH COUNCIL NE/V010638/1 ENGINEERING AND PHYSICAL SCIENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL EP/S025278/1 Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council EP/S025278/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 10 May 2021 14:52 |
Last Modified: | 10 May 2021 14:52 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Elsevier BV |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.spc.2021.03.022 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:173924 |