Attitudes and behaviour of consumers regarding dishwashing: The case of Patras, Greece

TLDR: In this article, the authors investigate, analyse and report the attitudes and behavioural patterns of Greek consumers regarding both manual and machine-dishwashing; to account for the rate of penetration of dishwashers in the household; and draw the profile of the households that own a dishwasher.

Abstract: Washing the dishes, which comes at the expense of natural resources consumption, is one of the cornerstones of hygiene in modern households. Dishwashing can be performed either manually or by the use of dishwashers. Even though machine dishwashing has clear advantages over manual, the latter is still used by a great portion of the households. The aim of this study, the first if its kind originating from Greece, is to investigate, analyse and report the attitudes and behavioural patterns of Greek consumers regarding both manual- and machine-dishwashing; to account for the rate of penetration of dishwashers in the household; and draw the profile of the households that own a dishwasher. The research took place in Patras, the third largest city in Greece using a closed-type questionnaire. The rate of penetration of dishwashers in this study, 39%, is below the European average but close to the one reported for southern European countries. The profile of the dishwasher owner outlined by our research is close to the one reported in the literature. In addition, habits of dishwasher owners have been identified. Our analysis indicates convenience, and not the conservation of water and energy, is the main reason for owning a dishwasher in Greece. An encouraging result is that Greeks are well informed and dedicated consumers of the low tariff electricity when using the dishwasher. Finally, despite the presence of a dishwasher in a Greek household, manual dishwashing using hot water is far from obsolete. The environmental impacts of heating the water for dishwashing can be alleviated by engaging solar heaters, the penetration of which proved to be quite high in the present research. Education and training of the consumers on both the advantages as well as the proper use of dishwashers is identified as the major requirement towards the reduction of the environmental impacts associated to dishwashing.