Can consumers enforce environmental regulations? The role of the market in hazardous waste compliance

We examine the U.S. hazardous waste management industry to assess the role that consumers play in encouraging environmental compliance. We first examine whether environmental performance affects consumer demand and find that noncompliance does decrease demand, at least in the short term. Next we consider whether market characteristics affect compliance behavior. While we do not find evidence that market size affects behavior, local competition does appear to increase compliance. However, as competition becomes less localized, it has a smaller effect. Finally, regardless of the pressures exerted by consumers to comply, commercial managers are less likely to be in compliance than on-site managers. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007Commercial environmentalism, Compliance, Enforcement, Hazardous waste, Market size, Competition, Q28, K42, D21,

European consumers' perceptions, definitions and expectations of traceability and the importance of labels, and the differences in these perceptions by product type

Given the heterogeneity of European consumers, it is not surprising that they have different perceptions and expectations regarding and understanding the concept of ‘traceability’. Consumers may also perceive traceability differently for different product types. The present study is based upon an analysis of focus groups in 12 countries across Europe. It explains how European consumers understand the traceability of food products as well as their expectations of traceability for different types of food product (meat and honey have been used as examples). Labelling schemes for these two types of products are also examined. The results showed that dissimilarities exist in consumers’ perceptions of traceability in different countries. Some dissimilarities also exist between consumers’ expectations of traceability and the information they require. However, labels are still seen as an important way of communicating with consumers, although the participants claimed that these labels need to be understandable and more easily accessible to facilitate consumer understanding