We can't find the internet
Attempting to reconnect
Something went wrong!
Hang in there while we get back on track
Papers
61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to How plastic is our plastic culture? Reducing our consumption of single-use plastics
ClearOur life with plastic, a review of plastic product abuse in the age of consumerism
This review examines the psychology, sociology, and culture of plastic consumerism alongside the scientific evidence for microplastic health harms, arguing that social sciences should complement natural science research by promoting rational product choices and awareness.
Why is there plastic packaging in the natural environment? Understanding the roots of our individual plastic waste management behaviours
This review explores why individuals mismanage plastic packaging waste, finding that the disconnect between discarding behavior and its visible consequences is a key factor, as is the deep historical rootedness of waste disposal habits in different cultures. The authors argue that policies to reduce plastic littering face fundamental behavioral constraints that require approaches beyond simple regulation.
On the way to reduce marine microplastics pollution. Research landscape of psychosocial drivers
A review of psychosocial drivers of marine plastic pollution found that factors including consumer convenience preferences, low perceived personal responsibility, and weak norm activation explain why behavioral change around plastic use is slow, and that interventions combining social norms messaging with structural changes show the most promise.
Role of Plastics in Modern Life: Benefits, Risks and Environmental Consequences
This review examines the dual role of plastics in modern society — their economic benefits alongside environmental and public health risks — and surveys strategies for more sustainable plastic production and disposal.
The human dimension: how social and behavioural research methods can help address microplastics in the environment
This paper outlines how social and behavioral science research methods — including surveys, interviews, and behavioral experiments — can be applied to understand human dimensions of the microplastic pollution problem. Addressing plastic pollution requires not just environmental science but also understanding why people produce, use, and dispose of plastics as they do.
Framing pollution
This social science analysis explores how "pollution" — and microplastics specifically — is defined not just by science but by political, economic, and cultural forces. The paper examines different ways of framing microplastic pollution: as a waste management failure, a consumer behavior problem, or an inevitable product of industrial capitalism, each with different implications for who bears responsibility. It argues that understanding the social and political dimensions of microplastic pollution is essential for developing just and effective responses.
Attitudes towards Plastic Pollution: A Review and Mitigations beyond Circular Economy
This review examined attitudes of consumers, industries, and governments toward plastic pollution, identifying behavioral barriers and synthesizing mitigation strategies that go beyond circular economy frameworks to address systemic plastic over-consumption.
‘Solutions’ versus sustainability
This chapter examines societal, financial, and geographic barriers to sustainable plastic behavior change, analyzing the tension between technological waste management solutions and the behavioral shifts needed to reduce microplastic pollution at source.
Un/Making the Plastic Straw: Designerly Inquiries into Disposability
This study uses design research methods to investigate the cultural and material life of plastic straws, examining how disposability is engineered and normalized in consumer products. The authors explore how design practices contribute to single-use plastic culture and how they might be reimagined to reduce waste.
A Systematic Review On Consumer Behavior toward Plastic Consumption In Asian Countries
This systematic review summarizes research on consumer attitudes and behaviors toward plastic use across Asian countries. Understanding what drives people to use or avoid plastic products is important for reducing microplastic pollution at its source, since everyday plastic consumption is the upstream cause of the microplastic contamination found in our food, water, and bodies.
Role of Plastics in Modern Life: Benefits, Risks and Environmental Consequences
This review examines the dual role of plastics in modern society — their economic and practical benefits alongside growing environmental and health concerns — calling for a balanced approach to plastic use and waste management.
Making sense of microplastics? Public understandings of plastic pollution
Researchers conducted focus groups to explore public understanding of microplastics and plastic pollution. Most participants were unaware of microplastics, and few connected their personal plastic use to ocean pollution, instead associating the issue with distant images like the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. The study suggests that the invisible scale of microplastics, limited scientific understanding, and deeply embedded cultural habits around plastic use present significant barriers to behavior change.
Plastic habits – an overview for the collection ‘Plastics and Sustainable Earth’
This overview article examines how human behavior has become deeply intertwined with plastic use over the past 60 years, producing vast amounts of non-biodegradable waste that now pollutes the planet. It introduces a collection of studies exploring behavior change, product design, and sustainable alternatives needed to reduce society's dependence on plastic.
Next steps for research on society and microplastics
This perspective paper assessed the contributions of social and behavioral sciences to microplastics research, covering policy analysis, public education, and stakeholder engagement. The authors argue for greater integration of social science methods to understand and reduce plastic pollution at the human systems level.
Domestic Plastic Consumption Patterns: A Data-Informed Sociological Analysis of Education and Behaviour Among Homemakers
A household survey in Pakistan found that plastic bottles, bags, and containers dominate domestic consumption, with education level influencing awareness but not necessarily behavior. Understanding consumption patterns at the household level is foundational for reducing the volume of single-use plastics that ultimately fragment into microplastics in the environment.
Living in the Plastic Age
This interdisciplinary work examines plastic pollution from societal and environmental perspectives, arguing that ubiquitous plastic waste and its conversion to microplastics has become so pervasive in shaping human-nature relationships that it defines a distinct 'Plastic Age,' and exploring implications for human health and pathways toward systemic change.
From Awareness to Action: A Critical Review of Public Knowledge and Behavioral Gaps in Addressing Plastic Pollution
This review examined why public awareness of plastic pollution has not translated into meaningful behavioral change. The study found that most people focus on visible plastic waste like bottles and bags but have limited understanding of sources like microplastics from clothing and tires, with key barriers to action including convenience, cost, social norms, and distrust in recycling systems.
Cultural Stability
This academic chapter examines why cultures tend to resist change and what mechanisms allow cultural practices to persist across generations. Understanding cultural stability and change is relevant to the challenge of shifting societal behaviors around plastic consumption and waste.
Systemic Change: The Complexity of Business in a Circular Economy
This paper examines the complexity of transitioning businesses to a circular economy model, focusing on the systemic changes needed to replace the linear take-make-dispose approach. Circular business models that keep plastics in use longer and out of the environment are fundamental to reducing microplastic pollution at its source.
Why are single-use plastics a problem?
This educational book chapter is part of a Brazilian series designed to raise public awareness about single-use plastics, targeting waste pickers, students, and civil society through pedagogical activities. The volume aims to develop a more critical public understanding of plastic pollution, which is closely tied to microplastic contamination in food, water, and the environment.
Explicitly and Implicitly Measured Valence and Risk Attitudes Towards Plastic Packaging, Plastic Waste, and Microplastic in a German Sample
This psychology study measured both explicit and implicit attitudes toward plastic packaging and microplastics in German consumers, finding that people simultaneously appreciate the convenience of plastic while expressing concern about pollution. The gap between attitudes and behavior helps explain why plastic consumption continues despite public concern about microplastics.
Mapping of global plastic value chain and plastic losses to the environment: with a particular focus on marine environment
This report maps the global plastic value chain from production through use to waste management, estimating that millions of tonnes of plastic enter the ocean each year, with significant regional variation in management capacity. The analysis provides the economic and waste management context needed to understand why plastic pollution — and the resulting microplastic problem — continues to grow globally.
Plastic Pollution and Potential Solutions
This review provides a broad overview of plastic pollution, covering the full lifecycle from manufacturing through disposal and environmental degradation. Researchers note that of the 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic ever produced, roughly 79% has ended up in landfills or the natural environment, where it breaks down into micro- and nanoplastics that persist for centuries. The study discusses potential solutions including improved recycling, biodegradable alternatives, and policy interventions to reduce plastic waste.
Plastic Ocean: Understanding the Damage of Overconsumption of Single-use Plastics
This educational paper reviews the scale of single-use plastic pollution and explains how plastics fragment into microplastics in ocean environments through sun, wind, and wave action. It uses widely-cited statistics to communicate the urgency of reducing plastic consumption, particularly single-use plastic bottles.