Open Access

In the shift towards the adoption of sustainable food packaging, companies within the food sector hold a pivotal role in determining the choice of packaging materials and solutions utilized. Past research suggests that consumer preferences significantly influence corporate decisions concerning the adoption of environmentally-friendly packaging solutions. However, there exists a conspicuous lack in scholarly investigations regarding the perception of consumer attitudes and behavior by corporations, an aspect critical to understanding the dynamics influencing corporate packaging choices. This research aims at adressing this gap by exploring the perspectives of packaging professionals within food companies on consumer attitudes, knowledge and behavior regarding sustainable food packaging. Employing a qualitative research methodology, qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with packaging professionals across food companies located in Germany, Austria, Spain, and Portugal. These interviews were subjected to a qualitative content analysis to distill insights into the industry's perception of consumers regarding sustainable packaging. The findings from this study reveal a dichotomy in perceptions, with approximately fifty percent of the respondents positing that consumers accord minimal importance to sustainability aspects of packaging and the other half thinking that it does matter to consumers. Moreover, it emerged that professionals within the packaging domain perceive consumer preferences to lean towards packaging materials derived from natural sources, with a pronounced preference for paper-based materials over plastic counterparts. Contrasting with existing consumer research indicating a broader spectrum of packaging preferences including bio-based materials, biodegradability, and recyclability, the perceptions among the interviewed professionals appeared to be narrowly focused. Additionally, the research unearthed a tendency among packaging professionals to critique consumer behavior. Notably, the study identified prevalent 'narratives of disempowerment' among the respondents, which express a view of consumers as impediments to sustainable packaging initiatives, a perceived lack of agency of food companies against manufacturers and retailers, and uncertainty regarding consumer knowledge and behavior towards sustainability. Food companies’ delegation of responsibility for the advancement of sustainable packaging towards retailers and consumers underscores a significant barrier to the broader adoption of sustainable packaging solutions. This research, therefore, contributes to the discourse on sustainable packaging by highlighting the need for a more comprehensive understanding of consumer attitudes, knowledge and behavior and the dynamics of corporate decision-making in this field.