I Also Want To Reduce Plastic Waste,The Question Is How?

 Plastic waste is considered to be one of the biggest environmental problems of our time. We investigated consumers' use of plastic packaging. Research shows that to make zero waste or plastic limit the norm, fundamental changes in infrastructure, lifestyle and culture are required.

96% of people think it is important to reduce plastic waste. Nevertheless, the world's plastic packaging, in terms of private terminal consumption, has been continuously increasing since 2009.

Recycling only solves the symptoms of the plastic crisis, but does not solve the root cause. Through research, we have determined that there are eleven major obstacles to reducing plastic packaging:

Habits: We mainly shop in supermarkets and markets, rather than large shopping malls. Most people do not bring their own bags or containers when shopping in the market.

Lack of knowledge: The average person is usually not sure which type of packaging is more environmentally friendly than other types of packaging.

Hygiene: We usually have reservations about the use of self-contained packaging and long-term reusable packaging in terms of hygiene.

Material characteristics: Due to its material characteristics (eg, light weight, shatter resistance, tear resistance), we usually prefer plastic packaging.

Priorities: Our efforts to reduce the use of plastic packaging conflict with other priorities in daily life. For example, parents do not want to carry heavy backpacks to their children, so they prefer to use plastic bottles instead of glass bottles.

Price: Generally speaking, food packaged with plastic is more affordable than food packaged with no plastic (environmental-friendly paper bags, cartons).

Usability: By default, most groceries in supermarkets and markets are only packaged in plastic, so we don't have many other options.

Diffusion of Responsibility: We generally believe that solving the "plastic problem" is not the responsibility of the individual, but the industry. On the one hand, the industry is indeed responsible for the fact that so many products use plastic packaging, so it must provide better environmental protection solutions. However, individuals should definitely avoid using plastic-packaged products more consciously.

Time: Time is another important barrier to plastic-free shopping. Due to the travel distance involved, for most people, if we pack food and commodities in our own containers, shopping time will be longer, and then the containers must be cleaned.

Convenience: It is inconvenient to bring our boxes to the store.

Consumer culture: We don't pay much attention to "a wide range of product packaging" when shopping. Compared with the appearance, plastic materials are usually ignored by us.

So research shows that consumers need to put in a lot of effort and knowledge to avoid using plastic packaging. If environmentally-friendly packaged goods or unpackaged goods become the cheapest and most convenient choice, in fact, the relevant infrastructure, economic incentives and even policy conditions need to be changed, and only charge for plastic bags or require us not to use plastic bags. In fact, it is difficult to achieve the goal of reducing plastic packaging.