Eco-business and its influence on the environmental awareness of the traders of a supply market: The case of Ancieta market in Lima, Peru

Abstract

Environmental awareness is a worrying factor that needs to be strengthened by raising public awareness in order to reduce environmentally damaging habits and attitudes. To this end, the research studied the influence of eco-business on the environmental awareness of traders in the "Ancieta" supply market in Lima, Peru. To assess the influence of eco-business, awareness-raising activities were carried out and evaluated on the basis of questionnaires for both a pre-test and a post-test in 59 traders. These awareness programs were related to environmental practices (efficient use of electrical energy, reduction of single-use plastic, recovery of used vegetable oil and waste management) and types of consciousness (conative, cognitive, active and affective). The results of the pretest showed that 91.5% of the merchants had a low level of environmental practices and in the posttest they obtained high and very high levels, corresponding to 84.7% and 15.3%, respectively. Concerning environmental awareness, initially, 86.4% of the merchants presented a low level of environmental awareness and in the post-test they obtained high and very high levels corresponding to 42.4% and 57.6%, respectively. Finally, it is concluded that eco-business had a positive influence on traders, suggesting that awareness programs are a strategy to improve workers' environmental awareness.