FROM WASTE TO RESOURCE: CIRCULAR ECONOMY PERSPECTIVES ON HOUSEHOLD COOKING OIL REUSE, CONSUMER AWARENESS, AND SUSTAINABILITY WITHIN THE SDG THROUGH TPB FRAMEWORK
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.69980/spe1v861Keywords:
Used Cooking Oil, Theory of Planned Behaviour, Circular Economy, Consumer Behaviour, Biodiesel Value ChainAbstract
The used cooking oil (UCO) generated from households is a valuable resource for the development of circular economy and biodiesel value chain and is often considered as household waste. Based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour and circular economy approach this study explores the reuse and disposal of cooking oil among households in an urban housing society in Pune, India. The study is based on a pilot survey of 57 households, and is an analysis of awareness, attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, incentive motivation, and willingness to join structured UCO collection systems. The results indicate a significant Behaviour–Sustainability Gap: 93% of respondents knew that repeatedly heating oil could generate harmful substances, but 82.5% of them continued to reuse their cooking oil and 43.9% threw UCO in the kitchen drains. Reliability, correlation, and regression analysis further indicate that perceived behavioural control and incentive motivation are key predictors of willingness to participate in formal UCO collection. The study contributes by repositioning household UCO from a sustainability and policy issue to a consumer behaviour-driven circular business opportunity. It proposes a household UCO-to-biodiesel value-chain model involving households, housing societies, startups, recyclers, authorised processors, biodiesel producers, retailers, and urban stakeholders. The findings offer managerial implications for QR-code labelling, collection bins, reverse logistics, incentive-linked participation, ESG initiatives, and sustainable business strategy.
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