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Why Young Consumers Switch to Biodegradable Plastic Consumption? the Moderating Effect of Environmental Concern
Summary
This study found that young people's attitudes, environmental knowledge, and sense of value are key drivers in whether they choose biodegradable plastics over regular plastic—especially when they genuinely care about the environment. This matters because regular plastic can take hundreds of years to break down, releasing microplastics that pollute our water, food, and eventually our bodies; understanding what motivates people to switch could help reduce this long-term contamination. The takeaway: teaching younger generations about environmental impact in schools could speed up the shift away from harmful plastics.
Plastic is one of the materials that we can find in almost every item. Plastic can take hundreds of years to decompose, causing widespread, long-lasting damage to ecosystems through plastic pollution. The effectiveness of biodegradable plastics as a key innovation in the global effort to curb plastic pollution and avoid resource waste has not yet reached its optimal level. The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of attitude, environmental knowledge, and perceived value on the switching intention of synthetic to biodegradable plastic among the young consumers in Negeri Sembilan. The second objective is to examine the moderating effect of environmental concern on the proposed relationships. The researchers distributed the questionnaire to 384 respondents. The sample was selected using two sampling techniques: cluster sampling and purposive sampling. The final data of 250 surveys were analysed using the SEM-CB method. The findings reveal significant relationships between attitude, environmental knowledge, perceived value, and switching intention. Next, environmental concerns significantly moderate the relationships between the independent variables and the dependent variable. Therefore, public awareness is essential, and schools and educational institutions can play a role in teaching the younger generation about environmental values and steps to preserve nature.