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Addressing Plastic Concern: Behavioral Insights into Recycled Plastic Products and Packaging in a Circular Economy
Summary
This study surveyed 511 Italian consumers to understand what drives people to buy products made from recycled plastic. Social norms, personal attitudes, and a sense of control over one's choices all influenced purchasing behavior. While not a health study, understanding consumer behavior toward recycled plastics is relevant because increasing plastic recycling rates could help reduce the amount of plastic waste that breaks down into microplastics in the environment.
Abstract The excessive production and use of new plastic materials pose a critical environmental challenge, and reducing its consumption has emerged as a major global hurdle. Understanding human behavior is thus essential for creating a circular economy for plastics. The study aims to gain insights into consumers' buying habits concerning recycled plastic, which has received relatively little attention in prior research on the subject of environmentally friendly consumer behavior. This study draws on the Theory of Planned Behavior to analyze the factors influencing consumer behavior regarding products and packaging made from recycled plastic. To this end, we employed a questionnaire, which was administered to 511 consumers in Italy. Results support that concerns about plastics and perceived efficacy exert a direct influence on attitudes. Additionally, our findings demonstrate that social norms, attitudes, and perceived behavioral control significantly shape purchasing behaviors concerning recycled plastic. The research contributes to extending the Theory of Planned Behavior model in predicting environmental-friendly behavior by adding new empirical evidence and provides valuable suggestions for companies to develop effective communication strategies and policies to redirect plastic consumption behavior towards less-impacting use of plastic.
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