Investigating Consumer Preference for Biodegradable Containers

Instead of virgin plastic, some growers are now using containers manufactured with alternative materials that can be planted directly in the soil and will degrade over time, thus eliminating the waste of disposing the pot into landfills. While previous studies have addressed certain aspects of consumer willingness to pay issue for biodegradable containers, this study specifically addresses consumer's perceived value for the containers themselves; that is, without the influence of the plant in the container. Analysis of the confidence intervals for wheat starch pots, rice hull pots, straw pots, coir pots, and peat pots reveal that they are overlapped, which indicates the price premiums participants are willing to pay for these five types of biodegradable containers do not significantly differ from each other. Consumers express a positive willingness to pay for several types of biodegradable containers relative to the standard virgin plastic container. There are two distinct levels or tiers that emerged with the first tier including coconut coir and peat pots, which received ratings in the same range as rice hull, straw, and wheat pots. A second, lower tier of similarly rated containers included the poultry feather, cow manure, and recycled plastic pots (relative to virgin plastic).