Life cycle assessment awareness: impact on the behaviour of Lebanese consumers and decision-making

摘要

With the rising environmental awareness, consumers worldwide are questioning the impact of products they use on the environment. The Lebanese consumers are still lacking awareness in this regard. Therefore, the introduction of life cycle assessment (LCA) as a tool to assess water and energy usage in the manufacturing of Lebanese food products was proposed. Concentrated yogurt known as 'labneh' was chosen as a prototype product to understand the Lebanese consumers' behaviour including their awareness, perception and decision making. A discussion of the applications and limitations of LCA in the production of concentrated yogurt as well as its validity as a tool for environmental management and for decision making was done. The study conducted on a sample of 458 respondents concluded that a high LCA awareness gap exists among 'labneh' consumers and the perception of labneh manufacturing factories as eco-friendly, does not influence the decision making of Lebanese labneh consumers. The results provide consumers with a deeper understanding of their food safety and help manufacturers develop better strategies regarding sustainable practices.