scholarly journals Perception and Behavioral Changes of Thai Youths Towards the Plastic Bag Charging Program

2020 ◽  
pp. 27-45
Author(s):  
Sujitra Vassanadumrongdee ◽  
Dawisa Hoontrakool ◽  
Danny Marks

Thailand has one of the highest usage of plastic bags globally, with over 45,000 million plastic carrier bags used annually. Because of its high plastic consumption and mismanagement of plastic waste, Thailand was ranked sixth globally in terms of its contribution to marine plastic pollution in 2015. While many countries have introduced plastic bag charges or taxes to reduce consumption, the Thai government is reluctant to do likewise due to political concerns about whether the public will accept this. This study presents findings on perception and acceptance level of university students towards plastic bag charging program in their campuses. We investigated the factors influencing intention and behavior and changes in students’ attitude from 2017–2019. Results show that students’ reusable/cloth bags use behavior and charge acceptance have increased over time. Testing is based on the Theory of Planned Behavior. We find that the factor which most influences consumers’ intention is perceived behavior control, which itself is determined by waste impact knowledge level and the perceived convenience of carrying reusable bag. In addition, the finding show that charging schemes are effective in breaking the habit of using plastic which will lead to a sustained change in behavior. Hence, policymakers should move implement plastic bag charging regulations in Thailand.

2021 ◽  
Vol 331 ◽  
pp. 02022
Author(s):  
Novia Wirna Putri ◽  
Septia Pristi Rahmah ◽  
Defriman Djafri ◽  
Irene Sandra Olivia ◽  
Ulfah Winanda Putri

The waste generation of Padang City at the Final Processing Site (TPA) is 495.50 tons/day, and the amount of unmanaged waste is 62.42 tons/day, of which 40% is plastic waste. Efforts to reduce the use of plastic bags have begun in Padang, referring to Perwaliko number 36 of 2018. Shopping centers and modern stores must use plastic shopping bags that meet SNI no later than December 31, 2020, especially in various retail and contemporary shopping centers. This study aimed to analyze the relationship between the effectiveness of plastic use policies and the decrease in the use of plastic bags in people who shop at modern retailers in Padang City. This type of research is quantitative with a cross-sectional design. The number of samples is 116 respondents who shop at modern shopping centers, namely Matahari Dept. Store, Food Mart Padang, Ramayana Padang and SPAR Padang. Data analysis used univariate and bivariate analysis. The results showed that 46.6% of respondents stated that the plastic bag policy was not adequate, and 46.6% of respondents stated that there was no reduction in plastic bags. There is a significant relationship between the effectiveness of the plastic bag policy and the decrease in the use of plastic bags in the people of Padang City (p=0,029). With this paid plastic bag policy, government, retailers, and the public will be more concerned with the environment.


Author(s):  
Ian Lim

Despite good intentions, the increasing number of plastic bag bans aimed at alleviating marine plastic pollution saw a correlated increase in the number of unintended consequences that emerged alongside the bans, suggesting that human behavior towards plastic bag consumption have not changed, but merely shifted, and are feeding into other major international environmental catastrophes. Nudge theory, which helps people make better choices for themselves without inhibiting their free will, is a potential solution that has been shown to play a subtle but important role in providing options under circumstances where complex information needs to be streamlined for the wider community, avoiding any unintended consequences and behavioural shifts that might arise from instruments that diminishes autonomy. It is therefore timely to look into the insights of nudge theory to encourage a positive behavioural change to reduce plastic bag consumption. Here we apply a systematic literature review to show how successful applications of nudges in supermarkets can be leveraged to reduce plastic bag consumption. We find that the current applications of nudges in various industries worldwide, including supermarkets have produced positive and encouraging results, as well as producing lasting behavioural change among the wider community. Supermarkets are identified as a powerful deployment site of these nudges due to their positioning as a dominant provider of plastic bags to the wider community, as well as being the largest and leading provider of daily food needs. Finally, we synthesise our findings to produce a coherent and testable framework of actionable interventions that supermarkets can employ to nudge customers towards reduced plastic bag reliance, accompanied with a visual timeline of a customer shopping in a supermarket experiencing these nudges.


Author(s):  
Shivashankari Pandirajan ◽  
V. Pragadeesh Raja ◽  
Jasmine Maruthupandiyan ◽  
Kalaivani Annadurai

Background: Plastic, although a simple synthetic polymer consisting of small molecules (monomers) linked together in a repetitive formation, is extremely versatile; with properties ranging from, resistance to corrosion, light weight, high strength, transparency, low toxicity to durability. The plastic used for domestic purpose nearly 500 billion plastic bags used each year.2 It is the slow poisoning to human health, animals and also the environment. Some years before plastic usage was few purposes only, over the past 60 years, plastics production and waste have dramatically increased, now days everyone using single use plastic bags for all use including cooked food packing, storage of drinking water and even storage of vegetables. The objective of this to assess the awareness regarding plastic pollution and to assess the attitude regarding plastic bag usage.Methods: A Community based cross sectional Study conducted among the population of residence, Sembakkam, Kancheepuram district, Tamil Nadu. The study duration between June to July 2019. Data collected through semi structured questionnaire from participants. Data Collected was entered in MS office excel and analyzed in SPSS version 21.Results: In the study, 67.5% (135) are males and 32.5% (65) are females. Mean age of the participants is 48.22 years (±14. 14). 86.5% (173) are literate and 13.5% (27) illiterate. In the study, participants 71% (142) answered plastic will cause health problem to animals and 24.5% (49) are not aware about health problem due to plastic. At the disposal of plastic 31% (62) replied burning of plastic which is followed by recycling the plastic 28% (56) (p<0.05) is the correct way of disposal. The majority of the participants, 90.5% (181) are supporting the banning of plastics and 5.5% (11) are not supporting the banning.Conclusions: Plastic usage has become a part of daily life, leading to the countless dumping of plastics. This in turn causes along with the environmental hazards, health hazards to both the humans and animals. The best recommendation is to reduce and reuse the daily usage of plastics. Strict Political and Administrative rules should be implemented and monitored.


Author(s):  
Shen Molloy ◽  
Andrew Medeiros ◽  
Tony Walker ◽  
Sarah Saunders

Government-led legislation is a key strategy to reduce plastic pollution; however, societal perception can heavily influence government intervention for environmental issues. To understand the public acceptability of government action to reduce plastic pollution, we examine the perception of existing and upcoming legislative action on single-use plastics by means of a structured survey with additional semi-structured interviews. Our focus is on the four Atlantic provinces of Canada, which was the first region in Canada to implement provincial-wide legislation for plastic reduction at the consumer level in 2019. Results show strong public support (77 %, n = 838) for bans on single-use plastic bags at the consumer level, and for further plastic pollution reduction legislation. However, the level of support differed between regions and by demographics. Semi-structured interviews show that decision-makers should increase efforts in raising consumer awareness and standardizing regulations across jurisdictions for smoother transitions prior to legislative action.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 142
Author(s):  
Ian Lim

Despite good intentions, the increasing number of plastic bag bans aimed at alleviating marine plastic pollution saw a correlated increase in the number of unintended consequences that emerged alongside the bans, suggesting that human behavior towards plastic bag consumption have not changed, but merely shifted, and are feeding into other major international environmental catastrophes. Nudge theory, which helps people make better choices for themselves without inhibiting their free will, is a potential solution that has been shown to play a subtle but important role in providing options under circumstances where complex information needs to be streamlined for the wider community, avoiding any unintended consequences and behavioural shifts that might arise from instruments that diminishes autonomy. It is therefore timely to look into the insights of nudge theory to encourage a positive behavioural change to reduce plastic bag consumption. Here we apply a systematic literature review to show how successful applications of nudges in supermarkets can be leveraged to reduce plastic bag consumption. We find that the current applications of nudges in various industries worldwide, including supermarkets have produced positive and encouraging results, as well as producing lasting behavioural change among the wider community. Supermarkets are identified as a powerful deployment site of these nudges due to their positioning as a dominant provider of plastic bags to the wider community, as well as being the largest and leading provider of daily food needs. Finally, we synthesise our findings to produce a coherent and testable framework of actionable interventions that supermarkets can employ to nudge customers towards reduced plastic bag reliance, accompanied with a visual timeline of a customer shopping in a supermarket experiencing these nudges.


Author(s):  
Ian Lim

Plastic bag bans aimed at alleviating marine plastic pollution have resulted in dire, unintended consequences, indicating a shift in general behaviour, that further feeds into major international environmental catastrophes. However, nudge theory is a potential solution that has been shown to play a subtle but important role in providing options under circumstances where complex information needs to be streamlined for the wider community. It is therefore timely to look into the insights of nudge theory to encourage a positive behavioural change to reduce plastic bag consumption. Here we apply a systematic literature review to show how successful applications of nudges in supermarkets can be leveraged to reduce plastic bag consumption. We find that the current applications of nudges in various industries worldwide, including supermarkets have produced positive and encouraging results, as well as producing lasting behavioural change among the wider community. Supermarkets are identified as a powerful deployment site of these nudges due to their positioning as a dominant provider of plastic bags to the wider community, as well as being the largest and leading provider of daily food needs. Finally, we synthesise our findings to produce a coherent and testable framework of actionable interventions that supermarkets can employ to nudge customers towards reduced plastic bag reliance, accompanied with a visualised timeline of a customer shopping in a supermarket experiencing these nudges.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Brian Nyathi ◽  
Chamunorwa Aloius Togo

Plastic bag waste is a major challenge in several African countries. As a way of reducing the detrimental effects posed by plastic bags, governments have adopted various approaches for plastic bag waste management that include levies, bans and or the combination of the two. Despite the adoption of anti-plastic bag policies in several African countries, there has been limited investigation regarding their effectiveness. Thus, the present paper reviews the effectiveness of legal and policy framework approaches for plastic bag waste management in African countries. This systematic review covers legal and policy framework approaches for plastic bag waste management in African countries since 2004 with a view to find their effectiveness. Data sources included peer-reviewed journal articles, websites, books, reports, and dissertations. The databases from which literature was retrieved included Elsevier, Taylor, Springer, institutional repository, and Google Scholar. The current paper argues that poorly enforced plastic bag legislation, resistance from stakeholders, and limited effective substitutes are major factors hindering effective plastic bag waste management in Africa. A six-step model developed by Patton and Sawicki assisted in evaluating plastic bag policies in varied African nations. The study concluded that the key to effective legislation is hinged on consistent enforcement and educating the public to attain environmental buy-in. African countries should adopt and implement the Patton and Sawicki six-step rationalist model to achieve effective plastic bag legislation. African governments should enlighten consumers about other alternatives that are more specific to African countries, especially bags made of raffia and leaves. The findings are limited in that there may be other relevant articles (beyond published articles) about policy and legal approaches for plastic bag waste management, which are not available in the public domain. Therefore, data reviewed may not be exhaustible.


Single use plastic bags have been banned by many countries, states and cities globally in an attempt to curb the massive impact of plastics on the environment. Plastic bag litter can clog drainage systems and result in those systems failing and flooding breaking out, which can result in damage. This litter is also a serious threat to animals and their habitats. Tamil Nadu, on January 1, 2019, became the fourth state in India to implement a ban on single-use plastics. Maharashtra was the first do it on March 23, 2018, Telangana followed the feat in June and Himachal Pradesh in July. This paper tries to bring the opinion of 150 sample respondents from Tirunelveli District on the awareness and response of Plastic usage and avoidance. The researcher used Trend analysis, t test, means, ANOVA, Rotated Factor Analysis, transformation matrix and Confirmatory Factor Analysis after the completion of suitable reliability test. This study brings to light the steps taken by the Government of Tamilnadu to reduce the usage of plastics and the opinion of the sample respondents regarding the ban of plastics. The study reveals that there is considerable improvement in the steps taken in the reduction of plastics in different zones. The opinion of the sample respondents in respect to the ban of plastics is highly significant in different dimensions such as personal, awareness, environmental and the availability of substitutes. The model framed is fit as per confirmatory factor analysis. Hence it is concluded that wider spread of awareness on environmental protection along with the introduction of proper substitutes for the plastics will wipe away the usage of plastics among the public and thereby the environment will be protected for a better tomorrow.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 33
Author(s):  
Abd Rachim AF,

One of the environmental problems in urban areas is the pollution caused by garbage. The waste problem is caused by various factors such as population growth, living standards changes, lifestyles and behavior, as well as how the waste management system. This study aims to determine how the role of society to levy payments garbage in Samarinda. This research was descriptive; where the data is collected then compiled, described and analyzed used relative frequency analysis. The participation of the public to pay a "levy junk", which stated to pay 96.67%, for each month and the rates stated society cheap, moderate and fairly, respectively 46.08%, 21.21%, 21.04%. Base on the data , the role of the community to pay "levy junk" quite high.


Author(s):  
Martha Hollander

What did it mean to be a man in Baroque Europe? The answer was crucial for men aspiring to success, whether in everyday society or in the rarefied culture of the court. While the concept of manliness was defined by clothing and articulated in conduct books, it was most clearly demonstrated in portraits. Portraits involved not just likenesses but the carefully arranged iconography of clothes and accessories, how they were worn, and their associations. The masculine ideal shifted perpetually from looseness to restraint, from sensitivity to strength, from meditation to sociability. A survey of portraits over a 150-year period reveals how the civil servants of Europe, equipped with their knowledge of fashion and behavior and sustained by the skills of artists, achieved a complex, dignified version of the public masculine self.


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