Browsing by Person "Arranz, Elena"

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Company views of consumers regarding sustainable packaging
(2024) Herbes, Carsten; Mielinger, Ellen; Krauter, Victoria; Arranz, Elena; Hurtado, Rosa María Cámara; Marcos, Begonya; Poças, Fátima; de Maya, Salvador Ruiz
In the transition towards more sustainable food packaging, food companies play a key role: they decide what type of packaging to use in their production. Past research posits that corporate decision making on sustainable packaging is driven by perceived consumer demand, making it important to understand how companies see consumers, a topic largely neglected in the literature. Our study aims at uncovering how food packaging professionals see consumer demand for sustainable packaging. We performed qualitative interviews with packaging professionals from food companies in Germany, Austria, Spain, and Portugal; we then performed qualitative content analysis on the responses. The results show that half of our interviewees think that sustainability in packaging does not matter to consumers. Further, pertaining to the packaging life cycle, packaging professionals believe that consumers pay more attention to attributes related to raw materials, i.e. the beginning of the packaging life cycle, preferring paper and rejecting plastics. Interviewees demonstrate scant awareness of consumer research which shows that bio-based materials, biodegradability and recycled materials matter to consumers. Our interviewees frequently criticized consumers, presenting what we identify as narratives of disempowerment whereby responsibility for sustainable packaging is not theirs. First, they perceive consumers as an obstacle. Second, they describe their own position as not very powerful vis-à-vis packaging manufacturers and retailers. And third, they are often unsure about consumer attitudes, knowledge or behavior. This assignment of responsibility for packaging decisions to retailers and consumers emerges as a strong barrier to the expansion of sustainable packaging. Analyzing the perceptions that companies have of consumers may help in better aligning consumer attitudes and behaviors and company strategies for sustainable packaging.
Sustainable food packaging: An updated definition following a holistic approach
(2023) Dörnyei, Krisztina Rita; Uysal-Unalan, Ilke; Krauter, Victoria; Weinrich, Ramona; Incarnato, Loredana; Karlovits, Igor; Colelli, Giancarlo; Chrysochou, Polymeros; Fenech, Margaret Camilleri; Pettersen, Marit Kvalvåg; Arranz, Elena; Marcos, Begonya; Frigerio, Valeria; Apicella, Annalisa; Yildirim, Selçuk; Poças, Fátima; Dekker, Matthijs; Johanna, Lahti; Coma, Véronique; Corredig, Milena
Food packaging solutions need to be redesigned to be more sustainable, but determining which solution is ‘more optimal’ is a very difficult task when considering the entire food product value chain. Previous papers paved the way toward a sustainable food packaging definition, but it is far from being commonly accepted or well usable in the broad food systems domain, which further results in uninformed choices for sustainable food packaging made by all stakeholders in the value chain: producers, distributors, practitioners and consumers. Therefore, this work aims first at giving a state-of-the-art overview of sustainable food packaging terms (38 similar terms were identified and grouped into four clusters: Sustainable, Circular, Bio and Other sustainable packaging) and definitions using systematic (narrative) review analysis and ‘controlled expert opinion feedback’ methodology. Second, it aims to offer an updated definition for sustainable food packaging, which is also specific to food packaging and be simple, coherent, easily understandable, and communicable to everybody. The applied holistic approach intends to include all aspects of the food-packaging unit, to consider food safety and packaging functionality, while taking into account different disciplines and challenges related to food packaging along the supply chain. Being a balancing act, a sustainable food packaging may not be a perfect solution, but contextual, suboptimal and in need of constant validation.