Puzzle: Why do consumers buy plastic products even though it can't be easily degraded?
Plastic is a material that's widely used in modern society. It is a material that's being made into various products but it also stays in the environment for a significant amount of time after disposal. The volume of the plastic builds up in the environment over time and occupies a lot of land space in landfills. In countries with limited land area it poses as a concern because the solid waste inside the landfill is not easily broken down by the microorganisms in the layers of waste. Such countries can only built limited landfills until they are all saturated. Also plastic is a major part of marine debris that has caused major concerns because of the destructive consequences on marine animals after they ingest plastic or being choked by plastic rings. Three reasons why it is so widely used given its known low degradability are analysed in the following paragraphs.
First, the cost for plastic products are reasonably affordable compared with some alternatives such as metal or ceramic materials. When consumers purchase products, one of the most important deciding factor is the price, even if the product itself is environmental friendly and has all the functions that plastic has, if the price exceeds the consumer's budget, it is less likely that this environmental friendly product will be chosen. However, if the price of a plastic alternative product is at a comparable level with plastic, the chances that consumers purchase it becomes significantly higher.
Second, consumers are not directly impacted by the lack of degradability of plastic products. At the end stage of the product life cycle, consumers do not see where the waste ends up. In modern society, waste is collected by public services or contractors and the plastic waste is therefore transported to somewhere else outside of consumers' homes. Therefore, the moment that the plastic waste is in the public waste collection container, it is no longer the consumers' problem and there is no direct impact on consumers for buying or throwing away the plastic. If the consumers are forced to deal with all the plastic waste for the rest of their lives, the amount of plastic waste would occupy a large part of their living space instead of the landfill. When the accumulation of plastic waste reaches a level that the consumers cannot carry on their daily functions anymore, consumers' purchasing behaviour might start shifting towards favouring products that would be broken down by microorganisms in the soil.
Finally, the lack of degradability could also be the reason why plastic products are so popular with consumers. Consumers might favour purchasing plastic products because they are durable and not easily broken or damaged. Although the plastic waste does not break down easily in the environment, plastic products might be able to maintain its function and provide a longer service life because it is less easy to break the plastic product.
Plastic is a material that's widely used in modern society. It is a material that's being made into various products but it also stays in the environment for a significant amount of time after disposal. The volume of the plastic builds up in the environment over time and occupies a lot of land space in landfills. In countries with limited land area it poses as a concern because the solid waste inside the landfill is not easily broken down by the microorganisms in the layers of waste. Such countries can only built limited landfills until they are all saturated. Also plastic is a major part of marine debris that has caused major concerns because of the destructive consequences on marine animals after they ingest plastic or being choked by plastic rings. Three reasons why it is so widely used given its known low degradability are analysed in the following paragraphs.
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Environmental organisation volunteers sorting
the waste collected from the beach
in Tainan, Taiwan. Plastic straws ranked No.1
among all wastes collected.
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Second, consumers are not directly impacted by the lack of degradability of plastic products. At the end stage of the product life cycle, consumers do not see where the waste ends up. In modern society, waste is collected by public services or contractors and the plastic waste is therefore transported to somewhere else outside of consumers' homes. Therefore, the moment that the plastic waste is in the public waste collection container, it is no longer the consumers' problem and there is no direct impact on consumers for buying or throwing away the plastic. If the consumers are forced to deal with all the plastic waste for the rest of their lives, the amount of plastic waste would occupy a large part of their living space instead of the landfill. When the accumulation of plastic waste reaches a level that the consumers cannot carry on their daily functions anymore, consumers' purchasing behaviour might start shifting towards favouring products that would be broken down by microorganisms in the soil.
Finally, the lack of degradability could also be the reason why plastic products are so popular with consumers. Consumers might favour purchasing plastic products because they are durable and not easily broken or damaged. Although the plastic waste does not break down easily in the environment, plastic products might be able to maintain its function and provide a longer service life because it is less easy to break the plastic product.
I found it really nice how you managed to express the important role consumer behaviour plays so clearly. The correlation is supported really well by your arguments. It was a really interesting and nice read and the pictures made it even more fun!
ReplyDeletePS. Your blog isn't in English, so it's a little hard to navigate.
Thanks for the feedback. I did not notice that the language was in traditional Chinese. I already adjusted the setting. Now the blog should be in English.
DeleteI found your correlation pretty interesting. I’m always thinking about the amount of plastic we use in our daily lives. I do agree with the three reasons that you gave about it. Nevertheless, I would add another one: the convenience of using plastic. For example, when organizing a party it is so much easier to use plastic dishes, at the end of it, we don’t need to wash them. It is so convenient to buy a bottle of water, once it is over, we just throw it away. If we want another glass of beer, we throw away the one we used and buy another one. I remember when I was a child; we would return the glass bottles of coke or water to the store, leave the empty ones and exchange them for new ones. I remember reusing so many things that nowadays I don’t do anymore. This is why I think that in order to stop the abuse of using plastic; the most important part is to change this “mind-set” in people’s thought.
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