This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: When hotels replace single-use toiletries with refillable dispensers, or companies strip unnecessary items from product bundles to cut waste, they may expect consumers to hail these changes as environmentally responsible. However, a new study has identified what the authors call "sustainable additive bias"—a tendency for consumers to view businesses as more sustainable when they add eco-friendly items rather than remove them, even when removal leads to lower waste and a smaller environmental footprint.
"People often assume that the more eco-friendly products a company provides, the more sustainable it must be. But sustainability is not necessarily about adding more. It is often about reducing what we produce, conserving resources and avoiding things that people do not really need.
An extra product does not become sustainable simply because it carries an eco-friendly label," said Dr. Diletta Acuti of the University of Bath School of Management. "Reusable cups, water bottles and tote bags can all be good alternatives to disposable products, but people increasingly have cupboards full of them.
I have accumulated around 20 tote bags myself, many given away at conferences and events. One reusable bag is useful; producing and distributing far more than people need risks turning a sustainable idea into another form of overconsumption." Published in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, the research by the University of Bath, Audencia Business School, emlyon business school, University of Portsmouth, ISM University of Management and Economics, and University of the Aosta Valley drew on nine studies covering hotels, consumer products, conferences, festivals and trade shows, and a field study involving hotel guests. The researchers found that people consistently rewarded visible eco-friendly additions such as reusable bottles, organic toiletries and sustainable gift items.
But they gave little credit to businesses that reduced or removed products. In one hotel experiment involving 302 guests, rooms stocked with a larger selection of eco-friendly amenities were rated as more sustainable than rooms with a minimal set. "The problem is that adding something is visible, while removing something is not.
Consumers can see the bamboo accessory, reusable bottle or eco-friendly hotel toiletry, and may interpret it as evidence that a company is making an effort. When a business removes unnecessary products to save resources, customers cannot see what is no longer there, so that action may receive much less recognition," Acuti said. The researchers said they were encouraged that the study showed the 'sustainable additive bias' can be reduced by clearly communicating the environmental effort behind removing products, and by retaining highly recognizable sustainability signals, such as refillable bottles or reusable products.
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