Vast quantities of organic waste are generated each year at retail floral shops much of which is discarded as municipal waste solids (MSW) by retailers. Plastic party confetti is also produced at a large scale and is used throughout the world for celebrations. Microplastics are increasingly a global environmental threat where they have been detected in not only in the soil and freshwater and ocean systems, but also in the atmosphere and even groundwater. The purpose of the study was to investigate the value, marketability and willingness to pay for a recycled dried flower petal confetti product created from retail floral providers organic waste. Flower petals and foliage pieces for drying were collected from local floral vendors as well as from spent and shattered flowers during the course of multiple semesters of university-level Floral Design course and program flowers. Flower petals and foliage pieces were air-dried in a cool, dark room in thin layers laid out in cardboard boxes and then packaged in 1-2 cup quantities in small paper sacks. They were labeled with printed stickers outlining their recycled nature and source. Students self-selected for the study by volunteering to participate. They were surveyed using a tool posted via Qualtrics that they could access on their cellphone and complete within 5 -7 minutes. Participants were asked if they use confetti and if they plan to purchase confetti for a graduation event. Next, they were asked to consider a sample of the flower petal confetti and how much they would be willing to pay for a bag (1-2 cups) of the flower petal confetti while viewing and touching the product. Results of the study indicated the potential value of this material that is currently mostly landfilled at this time. Recent research found floral consumers are willing to pay more for floral products from florists who implement sustainable practices into their operations, so the practice of drying floral waste could have this value as well.
