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Consumer-driven evaluation of Ecoplas as a sustainable flexible packaging in Jakarta
Summary
Researchers evaluated Ecoplas starch-based biodegradable packaging against conventional polypropylene, recycled polypropylene, and oxo-biodegradable options using PROMETHEE II multi-criteria analysis based on surveys of 96 consumers in Jakarta. Conventional PP remained most preferred overall, though Ecoplas scored well on environmental preference and willingness to purchase, with accessibility and durability identified as key barriers to wider adoption.
400 million tons of plastic waste pollute the environment every year, and then 8 million tons of plastic waste have ended up in the ocean. Flexible plastic waste accounts for 76% of plastic waste entering the environment in Indonesia. Ecoplas have been developed in Jakarta, as starch-based biodegradable packaging. This study aims to 1) determine the ranking of Ecoplas compared to PP, r-PP, and Oxo-biodegradable; 2) Identify criteria that affect the path of Ecoplas packaging into sustainable packaging. Data collection was conducted through a questionnaire involving 96 consumers of flexible packaging in Jakarta, taken by convenience sampling. In this study, Ecoplas packaging was evaluated using PROMETHEE II to generate rankings, and Rainbow-PROMETHEE to review criteria affecting packaging sustainability. The results show that PP packaging (0.1168) remains the most preferred option for flexible packaging, followed by Oxo-biodegradable (0,0020), Ecoplas (-0,0113), and r-PP (-0,1076). Ecoplas have good criteria on willingness to purchase (Ec), consumers' environmental preferences (En), property preference (T1), packaging safety preference (T3), and consumer knowledge of post-consumer (S2). Aspects of criteria that need to be improved by Ecoplas i.e. awareness of alternative packaging usage (S1) and accessibility (S3 & S4), and packaging durability preference (S2). Ecoplas is promising to be an alternative to flexible packaging, as shown by the good evaluation and willingness of consumers to purchase it as eco-friendly packaging. However, Ecoplas packaging needs to improve the level of packaging properties and accessibility level for consumers to find it easily.