Plastic Bags: A Sustainability Case Study

The first two chapters showed that the widespread use of plastic bags creates many concerns. While their impact is small compared to other environmental issues and their role in the overall sustainability of our society is minor, they nevertheless pose significant threats to the environment.
Unlike other complex environmental issues that require big changes in production processes or lifestyle, plastic bags can be readily replaced by more sustainable options without drastic disruptions. The analysis of available alternatives reveals however that other single-use bags, such as paper or biodegradable plastic bags are not good substitutes in terms of overall environmental performance.

The real sustainable alternative is switching to durable bags that can be reused over time. This solution is potentially readily achievable without any disruptive economic consequence, but it does require some degree of behavior change from the consumers. For this reason, the transition from single-use plastic bags to reusable bags is an interesting candidate for the application of social marketing strategies. Social marketing is a growing discipline that seeks to apply tools and techniques derived from commercial marketing to advance social goals.

The most typical area where social marketing has been applied is public health: examples are anti-smoking campaigns, initiatives to promote safe driving or healthy eating, and educational campaigns for the use of contraceptives. The goal of social marketing in this area is usually to educate the public about the health risks arising from a specific behavior and promote a healthier lifestyle. Social marketing techniques are becoming common also for environmental initiatives. The main challenge in this field is that, unlike with health-related issues, the advantages are usually not so manifest for the individual who has to make the behavior change. Environmental benefits often occur at social level but require individual action: this mismatch is a big barrier to behavior change.

Furthermore, environmental problems are often perceived as “too big to solve”. individual actions seem irrelevant at global level and individuals do not feel empowered to make a difference. These challenges arise also in the case of plastic bags: switching to reusable bags has some costs for consumers (mainly in the form of habit change efforts) while the benefits are captured by the society as a whole; moreover, decreasing or abandoning the use of plastic bags may seem a small and insignificant action, especially if it’s not embraced by the majority of the population.

Social marketing has developed some strategies to overcome these barriers and engage individuals to act, even in the absence of direct personal advantages. Initiatives to reduce the use of plastic bags and switch to durable bags could benefit from the application of social marketing techniques and could be a strategic test bed for other sustainability campaigns.