Interview with Angelos Balatsas-Lekkas, from UVA

Angelos Balatsas-Lekkas is a researcher in consumer research at the University of Vaasa. They lead the STOPP’s work package that aims to identify consumer perceptions of food packaging disposal, create and validate strategies to encourage recycling and reuse and raise awareness, acceptance, and demand for sustainable packaging.

1. How, do you believe, activities in the STOPP project support consumers’ environmentally sustainable behaviours with plastic food packaging?

In a nutshell, the aim is to stop environmentally harmful behaviours related to plastic food packaging, such as the use of single-use solutions, and to support European consumers in adopting more environmentally sustainable behaviours, specifically recycling and reuse. Since not all consumers think about, use and dispose of their plastic food packaging in the same way, the STOPP project has planned various activities to encourage a shift toward more environmentally sustainable behaviours with plastic food packaging.

For STOPP, the starting point lies in understanding what it means and how it feels for European consumers the dispose of plastic food packaging in an environmentally sustainable manner (e.g. recycling and reuse). In the later stages of the project, we draw on this knowledge to support consumers in meaningful ways to adopt recycling and reuse behaviours related to plastic food packaging. For example, one of our plans is to develop and test strategies that promote recycling and reuse behaviours related to plastic food packaging. In parallel, consumers’ awareness and acceptance of recyclable and reusable food packaging will be supported through social innovation and citizen science actions, such as social media-based campaigns.

2. How will you test behaviour change strategies within the project? What potential challenges do you foresee?

To test behaviour change strategies, we will engage consumers in an online experiment first, followed by a real-life experiment. The online experiment starts with the development of strategies informed by consumers’ meanings and views related to packaging disposal (e.g., an information campaign emphasizing environmental sustainability). These strategies will then be tested for their effectiveness in supporting consumers’ choices of environmentally sustainable plastic food packaging.

The most effective strategies will be validated in a real-life experiment that will take place in environments such as retail settings and restaurants. Here, the focus will be on consumers’ choices of plastic food packaging and understanding the reasons behind their decisions.

Prior experiences have shown that some challenges may arise with real-life experiments, as their planning involves extensive and complex interactions between various professionals (e.g. retail and restaurant managers, researchers, legal teams). Additionally, their implementation might be subject to uncertainties (e.g. consumer behaviour may vary across different times of the year, shift in attitudes), sample biases (e.g., small sample size), and participants’ behavioural changes due to their awareness of being observed (i.e., the Hawthorne Effect).

Past experiences with real-life experiments have shown that allowing adequate time for planning and paying close attention to practical matters—such as staff training, communication with consumers, and ensuring compliance with legal and ethical guidelines—can contribute to their successful implementation. Finally, in my opinion, key aspects for successful real-life experiments include motivation, reliability, and trust among collaborators.

3. According to your plans, you aim to increase awareness among consumers, by implementing two communication strategies: Guerilla marketing will be used in connection to reuse and a competition will be used in connection to recycling. Can you explain why have you chosen those strategies?

As people might be unfamiliar with reusable food packaging, we believe that guerrilla marketing is an effective method to create buzz and generate interest among consumers. The idea is to promote reuse by activating consumers’ positive feelings through surprise and unconventional interactions. For example, a “myth-busting” approach could be used to address consumers’ concerns about hygiene, convenience, cost, and environmental sustainability related to reusable food packaging.

Regarding recycling, the goal is to increase consumer awareness about the importance of recycling plastic food packaging and to communicate the safety of recycled materials used in food packaging, such as plastics and metals. One way to raise consumer awareness is by helping them express and share their challenges with existing forms of packaging. To achieve this, we use a competition scheme where consumers create share and vote for short videos demonstrating their experiences with food packaging that is difficult to use, empty, clean, or dispose of (e.g., due to labelling). This approach helps people understand the importance of recycling and gives them a voice in improving the system.