Plastic-free groceries: promoting consumers’ sustainable grocery shopping through spatial mapping and behavioral analysis
Suggested Electives
- Q4: Land use change modeling
- Spatial analyses of ecosystem services: nature's benefits to people
Food packaging is responsible for 5.4% of global food systems emissions in 2015 (Crippa et al., 2021). At least one-third of the food packaging is single-use plastic and about a fifth of the packaging-related emissions is from fruit and vegetables (Beitzen-Heineke et al., 2017; Crippa et al., 2021). People are aware, and find zero-plastic waste important but do not act like it (Klug & Niemand, 2021; Watson & Smith, 2020), hence plastic waste continues to increase globally (Ng et al., 2021). How to reduce households’ plastic footprint in everyday grocery shopping remains an urgent topic for global sustainability.
Studies in public health geography have proved that having easy access to healthy food environments (e.g., grocery stores with fresh vegetables and food, fewer fast-food vendors) can significantly improve the healthy diet and overall health of households(Helbich et al., 2017; Luan et al., 2015; Morland & Evenson, 2009). Building on the well-established literature, this master thesis will test the hypothesis in sustainable consumption: increased accessibility to zero-plastic groceries will increase households’ adoption of zero-plastic behaviors.
The MSc student will integrate fieldwork, questionnaire, and spatial analysis and modeling, to map and compare the accessibility of households in Amsterdam (the largest urban environment in the Netherlands) and Enschede (a representative medium-size urban environment) to zero-plastic groceries. The ultimate aim of this thesis is to identify ways for grocery store actors and consumers to act together and reduce zero-plastic waste.
Beitzen-Heineke, E. F., Balta-Ozkan, N., & Reefke, H. (2017). The prospects of zero-packaging grocery stores to improve the social and environmental impacts of the food supply chain. Journal of Cleaner Production, 140(January), 1528–1541. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.09.227
Crippa, M., Solazzo, E., Guizzardi, D., Tubiello, F. N., & Leip, A. (2021). Food systems are responsible for a third of global anthropogenic GHG emissions. Nature Food, 2(March). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00225-9
Helbich, M., Schadenberg, B., Hagenauer, J., & Poelman, M. (2017). Food deserts? Healthy food access in Amsterdam. Applied Geography, 83, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2017.02.015
Klug, K., & Niemand, T. (2021). The lifestyle of sustainability: Testing a behavioral measure of precycling. Journal of Cleaner Production, 297, 126699. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.126699
Luan, H., Law, J., & Quick, M. (2015). Identifying food deserts and swamps based on relative healthy food access: A spatio-temporal Bayesian approach. International Journal of Health Geographics, 14(1), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12942-015-0030-8
Morland, K. B., & Evenson, K. R. (2009). Obesity prevalence and the local food environment. Health and Place, 15(2), 491–495. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2008.09.004
Ng, A. W. M., Ly, S., Muttil, N., & Nguyen, C. N. (2021). Issues and Challenges Confronting the Achievement of Zero Plastic Waste in Victoria, Australia. Recycling, 6(1), 9. https://doi.org/10.3390/recycling6010009
Watson, S., & Smith, E. E. (2020). Assessing Customer Attitudes towards Zero Waste Shopping. GATR Journal of Management and Marketing Review, 5(4), 244–250. https://doi.org/10.35609/jmmr.2020.5.4(6)
Plastic wraps may be beneficial for keeping groceries fresh and long-term transportation, however it is not good for the environment.