An Explorative Study on Packaging-Saving Consumer Practices in the Fast-Moving Consumer Goods Sector

Abstract

Considering global plastic waste pollution, current production and consumption patterns must be changed. Various measures address this challenge, which can be divided into efficiency, consistency, and sufficiency. Sufficiency has become more critical as research on sustainable consumption and packaging-related behavior has shown that efficiency and consistency strategies alone cannot solve environmental challenges. A deeper understanding of consumers’ packaging-related behavior is necessary to promote sufficiency-oriented consumption patterns and support consumers in everyday implementation. This study aims to investigate consumers’ packaging-saving practices in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector and to explore to what extent the practices differ in their actual feasibility in everyday life. For this purpose, we conducted an online survey in Germany with open-ended questions (n = 299). We evaluated the open-ended questions using qualitative content analysis. Overall, the results show that reducing plastic packaging plays a significant role in the participants’ everyday lives. However, the extent to which plastic packaging is avoided or reduced varies by consumption sector. This study extends research on plastic packaging avoidance and reduction to non-food consumption sectors. It also provides essential impulses for actors from science, politics, and industry regarding how consumers can be more strongly supported in their packaging-related behavior in the future, through targeted measures.