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Determinants of behavioral intentions to reduce single-use plastic among Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh using an extended theory of planned behavior model
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Researchers surveyed Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh to find out what actually motivates people to cut back on single-use plastic. The biggest drivers were financial incentives and feeling capable of making the change, more so than just caring about the environment. This matters because reducing plastic waste, especially in crowded camp settings, can help limit plastic pollution that eventually breaks down into microplastics people may breathe or ingest.
Despite the growing recognition of single-use plastic (SUP) pollution as a substantial environmental challenge, there is limited understanding of the behavioral and socio-demographic factors influencing individuals’ intentions to reduce SUP usage, particularly in refugee populations. This study investigated the determinants of behavioral intentions (BI) to reduce SUP usage among the Rohingya refugee population in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, using an extended Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) model. A total of 304 respondents from 15 refugee camps were surveyed through face-to-face interviews. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) revealed that incentive measures and perceived behavioral control showed the stronest associations with BI, followed by attitudes and environmental concern (all p < 0.001). Additionally, moral norms, past behavior, and subjective norms also showed significant but comparatively weaker associations with BI. The extended TPB model demonstrated moderate explanatory power (R² = 0.587), accounting for 58.7% of the variance in behavioral intention. These findings suggest that economic incentives and perceived behavioral control may be important factors associated with intentions to reduce plastic use, while environmental concern, moral norms, subjective norms, and past behavior were also associated with behavioral intentions. By applying the extended TPB model in a refugee context, this study contributes to the understanding of factors associated with behavioral intentions toward SUP reduction and supports the utility of this framework in humanitarian emergency settings.
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