Du Bois, Els

Herweyers, Laure

Moons, Ingrid

Abstract: After the European ban on several everyday single-use plastic items, there is a need for sustainable alternatives that can be integrated into people\u2019s daily routines. This research focuses on possible thresholds that prevent the repeated usage of reusable alternatives for single-use products. The research questions are: (i) What habits in the daily life of the consumer impede the use of these products? (ii) What are the differences in user thresholds between an \u2018on-the-go product\u2019 and a product that is used at home? (iii) What characteristics should reusable products have so they are used longer? Six participants were invited to start using two reusable products for three weeks: food huggers (used at home, same for all six participants) and an \u2018on the go\u2019 product (two respondents each): a food wrap, a reusable coffee mug, or a reusable bread bag. Physical diary booklets were used to qualitatively collect the users\u2019 experiences with the test products. After three weeks, a follow-up interview was held with each participant. The paper concludes with a set of propositions to make repeated usage more likely. A distinction was made between barriers related to the product on the one hand and barriers related to the existing routines of the user on the other hand. The main barriers to using the food huggers are related to practicality, while planning and existing routines influence the regular use of the \u2018on the go\u2019 product the most. In general, according to the users, reusable products should offer the same or more benefits as their single-use counterparts. Future studies should focus on longer usage periods with different types of products such as intimate-hygiene-related products, and other means (such as digital diaries) could provide more time-specific and rich data

A diary study set-up to identify thresholds for repeated usage of reusable products

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