Global Ban on Plastic and What Next? Are Consumers Ready to Replace Plastic with the Second-Generation Bioplastic? Results of the Snowball Sample Consumer Research in China, Western and Eastern Europe, North America and Brazil

Ewa Kochanska (), Katarzyna Wozniak, Agnieszka Nowaczyk, Patrícia J. Piedade, Marilena Lino de Almeida Lavorato, Alexandre Marcelo Almeida, Ana Rita C. Morais and Rafal M. Lukasik
Additional contact information
Ewa Kochanska: Research and Innovation Center Pro-Akademia, 9/11 Innowacyjna Str., 95-050 Konstantynow Lodzki, Poland
Katarzyna Wozniak: Research and Innovation Center Pro-Akademia, 9/11 Innowacyjna Str., 95-050 Konstantynow Lodzki, Poland
Agnieszka Nowaczyk: Research and Innovation Center Pro-Akademia, 9/11 Innowacyjna Str., 95-050 Konstantynow Lodzki, Poland
Patrícia J. Piedade: Unidade de Bioenergia e Biorrefinerias, Laboratório Nacional de Energia e Geologia I.P., Estrada do Paço do Lumiar 22, 1649-038 Lisboa, Portugal
Marilena Lino de Almeida Lavorato: BISA Benchmarking Inteligência Sustentável, Av. Nove de Julho—Bela Vista, São Paulo CEP 01313-001, Brazil
Alexandre Marcelo Almeida: Commitment Prestação Serviços, São Paulo CEP 05844-120, Brazil
Ana Rita C. Morais: School of Engineering, The University of Kansas, 4165E Learned Hall, Lawrence, KS 66045, USA
Rafal M. Lukasik: Unidade de Bioenergia e Biorrefinerias, Laboratório Nacional de Energia e Geologia I.P., Estrada do Paço do Lumiar 22, 1649-038 Lisboa, Portugal

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 21, 1-25

Abstract: Plastic can be used for many things and at the same time is the most versatile material in our modern world. However, the uncontrolled and unprecedented use of plastic comes to its end. The global ban on plastic brings significant changes in technology but even more so in civil perception—changes taking place before our eyes. The aim of this study was to find answers to the questions about the readiness of consumers for a global ban on plastic. Within the research, the differences in consumer acceptance in countries in Europe, South and North America and Asia and the expression of social readiness to change attitudes towards plastic food packaging were analyzed. This work sketches the legal framework related to limiting the use of one-use food packaging made of fossil raw materials at the level of the European Union, Poland and Portugal but also at the level of the two largest economies in the world, China and the United States, as well as lower-income countries, e.g., Ukraine and Brazil. The survey results were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The performed study demonstrates that, in in all the surveyed countries, appropriate legal acts related to the reduction of plastic in everyday life are already in place. Furthermore, this work demonstrates the full understanding of plastic banning in all surveyed countries. Consumers are aware that every effort should be made to prevent the world from drowning in plastic waste. Society is, in general, open to the use of bioplastics produced from the second-generation resource if second-generation bioplastics contribute to environmental and pollution reduction targets.

Keywords: bioplastic; food waste; consumer acceptance; snowball sampling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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