Revealing determinants shaping the sustainable consumption of single-use plastic food container substitutes

Abstract

With the fast growth of the takeaway sector, waste originating from the consumption of single-use plastic food containers (SUPFC) is increasingly generated and exacerbates plastic pollution. Its substitutes (SUPS), a reliable option for mitigating plastic pollution, are attracting attention from both the public and private sectors. To better understand consumer preferences in reducing plastic pollution from SUPFC, we here establish an intricate fabric of the consumers' cognitive impetus toward SUPS and explore the prospects of combining and enhancing the technology acceptance model and theory of planned behavior framework with additional constructs. We simultaneously analyze variations in Beijing consumers' willingness to pay (WTP) for SUPS via the contingent valuation method. The intention to use (ITU) was found to be positively influenced by the perceived ease-of-use (PEU), attitude (AT), and subjective norms (SN). Conversely, perceived risk exhibited a negative correlation with AT, PEU, and ITU. The results further showed that ITU was positively correlated with income, age, and education. In addition, 95.86 % of the respondents were willing to pay for SUPS, mostly between 3 and 5 RMB (51.18 %). This study delineates a paradigm for elucidating the preference of using SUPS in the context of environmental sustainability and pro-environmental consumption. Such elucidation holds paramount importance in bolstering forthcoming investigations into SUPS utilization and behavioral patterns.