Consumer Concern and Willingness to Pay for Plastic Alternatives in Food Service

Plastic food service packaging represents a large source of plastic waste and marine debris. Currently, most business operators are resistant to changing environmentally friendly alternatives due perceived cost loss passing these costs onto the consumer. To address issues, we assessed willingness consumers pay for in both dine-in takeout scenarios at restaurants relation levels environmental concern, identity, demographics through survey. Data were analyzed using combination descriptive statistics, regressions, exploratory factor analyses. Of 1371 survey responses, nearly 66% respondents indicated they would be willing 40 cents or more per person meal restaurant that this preference did not vary between scenarios. Additionally, education level caring environment two significant factors increased alternatives.