Estimating the Willingness to Pay for Environmentally Friendly Food Packaging Alternatives

Date

6-2024

Degree

Bachelor of Science in Economics

College

College of Economics and Management (CEM)

Adviser/Committee Chair

Paul Joseph B. Ramirez

Committee Member

Rowena A. Dorado, Gideon P. Carnaje, Ma. Angeles O. Catelo

Abstract

In recent years, the Philippines has been identified as a dominant contributor to marine plastic pollution while simultaneously being the top country exposed to natural disaster risks exacerbated by climate change. It is important to explore different solutions to mitigate plastic pollution, especially for food packaging, which is one of the main contributors to single-use waste. A discrete choice experiment was utilized to attain the willingness to pay (WTP) of undergraduate students from UPLB College of Economics and Management towards environmentally friendly food packaging alternatives for takeout and delivery services. Psychological constructs from the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) were assessed through Likert scales and integrated into the choice model. Mixed logit models were used to estimate utility functions as they account for unobserved preference heterogeneity. The model that only added TPB constructs exhibited a potential to enhance the mixed logit model’s explanatory power. The respondents appear to have a high preference for sugarcane bagasse containers and paper bags. The computed WTP values from the mixed logit estimations reflect the preference with sugarcane bagasse containers at PHP 12.73 and PHP 12.55 for paper bags. The results imply that respondents want these environmentally friendly alternatives available to them, even if it comes at a cost. The study also saw that negative perceived behavioral control of availing environmentally friendly alternatives and positive intentions towards pro-environmental behavior influences the likelihood to opt for environmentally friendly food packaging.

Language

English

LC Subject

Willingness to pay (WTP), Food Packaging

Location

UPLB College of Economics and Management (CEM)

Call Number

LG 993.5 2024 E2 S53

Notes

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Document Type

Thesis

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