Biographies

Minzhen (Jerry) Yan

Hi everyone! I am Minzhen Yan from VANT 149 group 57 and you can call me Jerry If that works better for you. I am now taking the term three of the Vantage program at UBC. To be honest, myself is a heavy user of take-away food Apps user since its really convenient to use when you are reluctant to cook by yourself. The type of takeout food that I usually order is bubble tea or other soft drinks, and they are packaged by the single-use plastic bottle, which is apparently not so "sustainable." Come and join our presentation about sustainability and take-away food package, to learn more about this popular topic of food delivery.

Xinran (Yura) Hou

Hi, everyone! I am Yura Hou from Group 57. The research topic of our group is the relationship between takeaway packaging materials and young people's awareness of sustainability. For me, I am a crazy fan of food delivery apps, not only because it satisfies my mood of enjoying food without doing anything at home, but the variety of food it contains attracts me. I love ordering some Fried food. The packaging of such food is commonly made of plastic material, which is obviously not very environmentally friendly. If you are interested in this topic or have any sustainable advice, come and join us!

Fangqing (Rila) Zhao

Hi! I am Fangqing Zhao from VANT 149, and my English name is Rila. It is my pleasure to meet you all this way, as a team member of group 57, I would like to share some of my daily experiences and life about our topic. Because of my own busy and inconvenient, I often use takeout software, which can not only save my time but also have a variety of choices. My favorite food types are Chinese food and milk tea, which are also the most popular in Vancouver. Although some stores have no way to choose the materials for packaging, I prefer paper bags because they are more environmentally friendly than plastic and facilitate subsequent garbage sorting. If you want to learn more about takeout packaging and its impact on sustainability, join us!

Chen (Victor) Jing

Hello, everyone, I'm Chen Jing from Group 57, you can also call me Victor, that's my English name. Just like the research topic of our group, I am also a big fan of take-out food lover, because they bring me great convenience, I can order takeout food when I am busy studying, which can save me a lot of time. Of course, takeout packaging is one of my criteria for ordering takeout. I like cartons because they are green and easier to handle. My favorite food is Chinese food, as well as milk tea and sushi. In my spare time, I am happy to chat with my friends while drinking milk tea.

Introduction to our project

Our research endeavours to discover the relationship between takeaway food packaging, consumers' purchasing habits and their self-report awareness of sustainability. Through analyzing the data collected from our survey with quantitative methods, some trends have been revealed at last. Finally, we would also provide several recommendations to the related organizations, such as restaurants supplying for takeaway food.

Take a look at what we've achieved so far!

This is our abstract for our project titled "The Packaging of Takeaway Food: Young Customers’ Purchasing Habits and Their Awareness of Sustainability" that we hope will interest you in attending our presentation on Monday, July 13th. We are looking forward to discussing with you.

As young people who are the major users of food delivery apps (Tyrrell et al., 2017), we are interested to know if knowledge of takeaway-food-packaging's deleterious environmental impacts influences youths' use of food delivery apps. Usage of food delivery apps show an upward trend (Gallego-Schmid, Mendoza & Azapagic, 2019), but the packaging of takeaway food generates an environmental hazard (Burnside, 2019).

Forty participants took part in our research: they were asked to complete a 15-question survey. Using quantitative analysis, the central tendencies reveal how participants’ self-report understanding of sustainability is correlated with their spending on food delivery apps.

We found that adolescent participants are concerned about the environmental impact of takeaway food packaging. The survey indicates that the sustainability of packaging does influence the purchasing decisions of consumers. While there is some extra cost involved in supporting sustainable packaging, most people are willing to pay less than 5% more for this. Also, this does not mean they will reduce the use of food delivery apps.

In conclusion, our findings reflect an increase in environmental awareness and self-awareness among young people and provide guidance and suggestions for the takeaway packaging industry. Correspond to Burnside’s article, the industry should do more to address the growing environmental impact of takeaway food containers (2019). Therefore, future research could focus on biodegradable meal boxes as a beneficial supplement, provide advice for the development of takeaway companies and further improve the takeaway waste recycling rate in the future.

Key Words: packaging; sustainability; consumer-decision.

Reference

Burnside, W. (2019). Take-away container impacts. Nature Sustainability, 2(1), 11-11.

Gallego-Schmid, A., Mendoza, J. M. F., & Azapagic, A. (2019). Environmental impacts of takeaway food containers. Journal of cleaner production, 211, 417-427.

Tyrrell, R. L., Greenhalgh, F., Hodgson, S., Wills, W. J., Mathers, J. C., Adamson, A. J., & Lake, A. A. (2017). Food environments of young people: linking individual behaviour to environmental context. Journal of Public Health, 39(1), 95-104.