© Kamla-Raj 2012 J Hum Ecol, 40(3): 267-275 (2012) Eco-friendly Packaging of Selected Consumer Goods and Environmental Concern of Homemakers Shilpi Sharma and Maneesha Shukul 1 Department of Family and Community Resource Management, Faculty of Family and Community Sciences, The Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Vadodara, Gujarat, India KEYWORDS Eco-friendly. Buying Behaviour. Environmental Concern ABSTRACT Personal consumption of goods has important environmental implication; hence its role in the degradation vis-à-vis protection of environment and sustainable development is of growing concern. With the changing lifestyle of Indian urban consumers due to globalization, the increasing malls are filled with packed goods so that consumers can pick-up the required goods on their own. The goods are available in various packaging materials, which, on one hand provide convenience to the consumers, on the other hand causes waste disposal problems in case they are not reusable/ recyclable /biodegradable. The packaging material varies in their environmental impacts. Those consumers who select the goods packed in the least harmful packaging material to the environment out of the available options, exhibit “eco-friendly buying behaviour”. With the view to know the extent of eco-friendly buying behaviour of consumers of 21 st century, in relation to selected consumer goods, when much is talked about environment, a study was under on 75 purposively selected female consumers from Vadodara city. The questionnaire contained a scale having list of selected consumer goods available in the market in various packaging materials ranging from least to most eco-friendliness. The respondents were asked to indicate generally which of the given option they selected and why. It was found that majority of the respondents had a moderate extent of eco- friendly buying behaviour and the reasons behind the purchase of selected goods in different packaging were economy and convenience. Very few percentage of respondents reflected environmental concern at the time of buying those goods as reflected through the reasons. The study reveals a need for making consumer more environmentally concerned at the stage of buying as well as understanding their “environmental foot-print”, so as to contribute for sustainable development and environmental protection. INTRODUCTION “Packaging includes the activities of design- ing and producing a container for a product” (Kotler 2000). According to Kuvykaite (2009), package attracts consumer’s attention to partic- ular brand, enhances its image, and influences consumer’s perceptions about product. Pack- age imparts unique value to products (Under- wood et al. 2001; Silayoi and Speece 2004), works as a tool for differentiation, that is, helps con- sumers to choose the product from wide range of similar products, stimulates consumers buy- ing behaviour (Wells et al. 2007). Thus packag- ing performs an important role in marketing com- munications and could be treated as one of the most important factors influencing consumer’s buying decisions. Packaging protects the commodity from loss- es, damages and deterioration in quality due to exposure and it keeps the content pure and clean, as, the goods may be packed mechanically and untouched by unclean hands. Packaging also reduces the chances of breakage and pilferage in transit and adulteration. Pre-packed goods ensure correct weight, quality and price as these are indicated on the package. Packaging helps in widening of the market due to necessary pro- tection, ease in handling and convenience to all. It also helps in branding, advertising and point of purchase display (Sherlekar 2006). Packaging materials can be broadly classi- fied as food and non-food packaging materials. Food packaging materials comprises of glass, ceramic, earthenware, plastics, metalized plas- tics, laminated paper, multilayer packaging and metals like some alloys, stainless steel and alu- minum cans, foils. These packaging materials have high volume but may have low weights making up only 15-20 % of all packaging. On the other hand non-food packaging materials are mostly cardboards, blister plastic, thermocol, paper, wood, cellophane and other clear trans- parent and opaque plastics, multilayer contain- ers and strappings. The non-food packaging make up almost 80-90% of all packaging by weight (Ministry of Environment and Forests 2010). Packaging waste can have number of impacts on the environment. Most of the packaging