(In)Conveniently disposable: Waste concern doesn‟t affect plastic consumption

Abstract

Mixed-methods analysis of >400 online social surveys conducted at an Australian organisation is presented to identify individuals most likely to consider the environmental impact of packaging when making purchase decisions, including bottled water, and/or take their own shopping bags/coffee cups to minimise plastic consumption. Findings are compared for two social groups, the minority (33%) who articulated ‘waste’ as a personal environmental concern, and the majority. With high disposable coffee cup consumption existing alongside ‘most’ product-choices based on their pro-environmental packaging, findings further green ‘attitude/behaviour’ gap explorations. Given legislated plastic reduction initiatives yielded greatest individual behavioural change (bringing/reusing grocery bags) regardless of respondents’ waste-production concern, continued promotion of consumer preference-based, non-punitive incentives promoted in research literature may come at high ecological cost.