1. Are consumers concerned about plastic water bottles environmental impact?
- Author
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Orset, Caroline, Economie Publique (ECO-PUB), AgroParisTech-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), CRESE, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-AgroParisTech, and European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists
- Subjects
Biodegradable plastic bottles ,JEL: L - Industrial Organization/L.L6 - Industry Studies: Manufacturing/L.L6.L66 - Food • Beverages • Cosmetics • Tobacco • Wine and Spirits ,Recycling plastic bottles ,Bouteille plastique biodégradable ,Bioplastic bottles ,[SHS.ECO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Economics and Finance ,JEL: Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics • Environmental and Ecological Economics/Q.Q5 - Environmental Economics/Q.Q5.Q57 - Ecological Economics: Ecosystem Services • Biodiversity Conservation • Bioeconomics • Industrial Ecology ,JEL: D - Microeconomics/D.D1 - Household Behavior and Family Economics/D.D1.D12 - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis ,JEL: C - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods/C.C9 - Design of Experiments/C.C9.C90 - General ,[SHS.ENVIR]Humanities and Social Sciences/Environmental studies ,Consentement a payer ,Information campaign ,Campagne d'information ,Consumer's willingness to pay ,Bouteille plastique ,Regulatory instruments ,JEL: Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics • Environmental and Ecological Economics/Q.Q5 - Environmental Economics/Q.Q5.Q58 - Government Policy - Abstract
International audience; Although plastic induces environmental damages, almost all water bottles are made from plastic. However, these damages are more or less significant according to the plastic used. This study evaluates the consumers' willingness to pay (WTP) for different plastics used for water packaging. Successive messages emphasizing the characteristics of plastic are delivered to participants allowing explaining information influence on the consumers' WTP. We find that information has a significant effect on WTP. The participants' WTP for plastic bottles tends to increase after information emphasizing that the related plastic bottles has no negative impact on the environment, and to decrease with information on its negative impact. Using a fixed effect panel model, we show that there is a significant premium for recycled plastic bottles except when biodegradable plastic bottles are present on the market. We compare the welfare effects of regulatory policies allowing reducing environmental damages of plastic water bottles. We find that information campaign on plastic bottles issues is the best policy. But it is difficult to implement it in practice. Then we discuss about other environmental policies and tools which could be applied in order to reduce plastic water bottles negative impact on the environment.
- Published
- 2016