Of Policies, Behaviour and Single-Use Plastics Wouter Poortinga, Cardiff University

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1 Of Policies, Behaviour and Single-Use Plastics Wouter Poortinga, Cardiff Single-Use Plastic - What about it? NRN-LCEE, Cardiff, 18 October 2018

2 Background Source: Creative commons (MichaelisScientists)

3 Number of bags (millions) used by UK supermarket customers / Single-use 11,065 8,605 7,208 7,568 7,977 Bags for Life Total 11,346 9,004 7,570 7,974 8,392 Source: WRAP

5 Background Source: Creative commons (no attribution needed)

6 Around 28 million tonnes of household waste is generated in the UK every year, of which 4.9 million tonnes is packaging and 7.0 million tonnes is food waste. Carrier bags represent less than 1% of household waste, but Source: WRAP

7 Background Source: Creative commons (MichaelisScientists)

8 Ban Fee/levy/tax Partial ban/levy Voluntary charge Wikipedia 2016

9 Ban Fee/levy/tax Partial ban/levy Voluntary charge Wikipedia 2018

12 Defra 2016

13 Poortinga Defra 2016

15 100% 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 14% 14% 4% 4% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 17% 4% Only single-use bags Single use and Bags for Life 50% 55% 57% 50% 7% 54% Only Bags for Life 40% 40% 30% 30% 22% Personal bags 20% 10% 0% 11% 11% 16% 14% % 10% 0% 15% 18% 6% 7% Items carried loose Wales England

16 The plastic bag charge is (arguably) the most successful behaviour change policy in recent history

17 The Incredible Power of 5p

18 Behaviour Change Strategies Provide Alternatives Ban Information campaign Economic instruments Social modelling Values/Moral change Vlek (2000)

19 Behaviour Change Strategies Dikgang & Visser (2012)

20 Habits 1. Things we do frequently 2. A practice or custom 3. A routine 4. A dominant disposition 5. Addiction.

21 Habits Repetition Automaticity Context-Cued

22 Habits Repetition Automaticity Context-Cued

23 I do intend to, a lot of the time, bring a couple of these bags for life that we have, but it s just so ingrained to grab these plastic bags when you get there. (Male, England, Before)

24 Breaking Habits 1. Disrupt frequency 2. Disrupt automaticity 3. Disrupt context(ual cues)

25 Breaking Habits 1. Disrupt frequency 2. Disrupt automaticity 3. Disrupt context(ual cues)

26 It makes people think about recycling and reusing bags, it s not so much about the cost of the bags, because it s minimal, but it s enough to get people thinking. (Female, England, After)

27 I think it makes me aware of the fact that I'm paying for something that I'm only going to use for a few minutes. (Male, England, After)

28 Acceptability of the Charge England

29 It s very easy to carry your own shopping bag. (Female, England, After) I either have the [bags for life] in the boot of the car, or if I buy something on a whim, I have one of those little fold up ones that goes in my handbag. (Female, England, After)

30 Brown et al. (2009) Schuitema et al. (2010) Poortinga et al. (2013) Transport for London (2014)

31 What else?

33 I m glad there s a charge on plastic bags because we need to do something. I would hope that it is going to make a difference to landfill and to the way people think about the things that they dispose of. (Female, England, After) I m very aware of the amount of plastic bottles [now]. (Male, England, After)

34 Policy Spillover Support up Support up No change

36 The Coffee Cup Study Bewley s contacted Cardiff University to set up the study To see if easily implementable measures can increase reusable cup usage (measures that can be taken by any coffee shop) Posters/showcards on environmental impact of coffee cups Selling reusable cups at (about) cost price Distributing reusable cups for free to customers Reward for using a reusable cup (i.e p discount) Penalty for using disposable cup (i.e. 25p charge) after a price reduction!

The Coffee Cup Study Bewley s recruited 12 sites

caterer Bartlett Mitchell (sites had different

intervention study Recording daily sales of hot

37 The Coffee Cup Study Bewley s recruited 12 sites collaboration with 4 universities and contract caterer Bartlett Mitchell (sites had different combinations of measures) Before-and-after intervention study Recording daily sales of hot drinks for 10 weeks (5 weeks before and 5 weeks after, typically 2 x 25 days)

38 The Coffee Cup Study

39 The Coffee Cup Study

The Coffee Cup Study Use of reusable coffee cups could be increased

This could mean a reduction of broadly 50-300 million disposable

disposable cups increased the use of reusable cups, a discount on

with the trial and recording of sales; and rolled out charge across

40 The Coffee Cup Study Use of reusable coffee cups could be increased by up to 12.5% with a combination of measures. This could mean a reduction of broadly million disposable coffee cups p/a if measures rolled out across UK While a charge on disposable cups increased the use of reusable cups, a discount on reusable cups had no impact The University of Winchester continued with the trial and recording of sales; and rolled out charge across 3 cafes Provided re-usable cups to all students boosted (long-term) use of reusable cups up to 34%!

42 Momentum Source: BBC

43 Source: HM Government

45 Thank you

Sustainable Procurement: Plastic and Catering Consumables

Sustainable Procurement: Plastic and Catering Consumables Claire Guerin Sector Manager Sustainable Procurement zerowastescotland.org.uk @zerowastescot We help suppliers SERVICE FUND NETWORK We help buyers