Social Perspectives towards Biobased Products and Textiles

Abstract

This study explores and compares stakeholders’ perceptions of biobased products over the last few years. Three groups of stakeholders are included: consumers, the business-to-business market, and public procurers. The main research method consists of a qualitative analysis of some of the results obtained in a series of surveys in Europe-wide projects with the aim of understanding the behaviour, motivations, and concerns of stakeholders related to biobased products. The aim is to gather up-to-date information on the opinion of society from the perspective of the different actors on this type of product, focusing on textiles, in order to make a series of proposals to favour their inclusion in the market, while at the same time answering which are the most influential aspects when it comes to favouring or complicating the access of bioproducts to the market. The document compiles information from multiple sources and years (2014–2020) and, together with the most current and available information (2021), is processed in such a way that the information can be compared across years and stakeholders, allowing to observe the evolution over time of societal perspectives and the variation in opinion according to stakeholder. The results are presented according to three themes: (1) level of awareness, (2) product information, and (3) benefits, drivers, and barriers. The main findings indicate a general lack of awareness of biobased products, as well as several divergences in terms of the best methods to promote market access for biobased textiles.

A Review of Sustainability Standards and Ecolabeling in the Textile Industry

“…A product's final use, regular use, and maintenance must all be taken into account by the designer while creating the product [22][23][24]. Environmental acceptability may be impacted by the choice of raw materials [25,26]. Combining recyclable fabrics with nonrecyclable textiles is not appropriate [27].…”