IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolec/v191y2022ics0921800921003049.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

No clue about bioplastics

Author

Listed:
  • Ansink, Erik
  • Wijk, Louise
  • Zuidmeer, Frederiek

Abstract

We analyze recycling decisions for bioplastics using a natural field experiment. Bioplastics have environmental benefits – such as reduced energy use in production and enhanced biodegredation – compared to conventional plastics. Recycling decisions that are not consistent with government guidelines, however, may cause a rebound effect. For instance when biobased plastics contaminate organic waste streams, or compostable plastics contaminate plastics waste streams. The environmental benefits of these new plastics may be offset by the damage caused by such recycling decisions. The field experiment that we set up to test this recycling behavior exploits the setting of a lemonade tasting. In our experimental treatments, subjects are exposed to different types of bioplastics logos on their lemonade cups as well as varying amounts of recycling information. We use two types of bioplastics and compare these to conventional plastics in terms of whether subjects recycle the cups according to guidelines. Our results show that over 90% of subjects dispose of their cup with plastic waste, which is not the intended waste stream for some bioplastics. None of our treatments can snap subjects out of this default behavior. We interpret this finding as subjects having no clue how to recycle bioplastics.

Suggested Citation

  • Ansink, Erik & Wijk, Louise & Zuidmeer, Frederiek, 2022. "No clue about bioplastics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:191:y:2022:i:c:s0921800921003049
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2021.107245
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800921003049
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2021.107245?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Heleen Bartelings & Thomas Sterner, 1999. "Household Waste Management in a Swedish Municipality: Determinants of Waste Disposal, Recycling and Composting," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 13(4), pages 473-491, June.
    2. Don Fullerton & Thomas C. Kinnaman, 2002. "Household Responses to Pricing Garbage by the Bag," Chapters, in: Don Fullerton & Thomas C. Kinnaman (ed.), The Economics of Household Garbage and Recycling Behavior, chapter 4, pages 88-101, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    3. Dekker, Thijs & Hess, Stephane & Brouwer, Roy & Hofkes, Marjan, 2016. "Decision uncertainty in multi-attribute stated preference studies," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 57-73.
    4. Hornik, Jacob & Cherian, Joseph & Madansky, Michelle & Narayana, Chem, 1995. "Determinants of recycling behavior: A synthesis of research results," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 105-127.
    5. Glenn W. Harrison & John A. List, 2004. "Field Experiments," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 42(4), pages 1009-1055, December.
    6. Cecere, Grazia & Mancinelli, Susanna & Mazzanti, Massimiliano, 2014. "Waste prevention and social preferences: the role of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 163-176.
    7. Macarena Beltran & Benny Tjahjono & Anna Bogush & Jorge Julião & Evandro L. S. Teixeira, 2021. "Food Plastic Packaging Transition towards Circular Bioeconomy: A Systematic Review of Literature," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-24, April.
    8. Dijkgraaf, E. & Gradus, R. H. J. M., 2004. "Cost savings in unit-based pricing of household waste: The case of The Netherlands," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 353-371, December.
    9. Chakravarty, Sujoy & Mishra, Rajan, 2019. "Using social norms to reduce paper waste: Results from a field experiment in the Indian Information Technology sector," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 1-1.
    10. Angrist, Joshua D, 2001. "Estimations of Limited Dependent Variable Models with Dummy Endogenous Regressors: Simple Strategies for Empirical Practice," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 19(1), pages 2-16, January.
    11. Kenneth Gillingham & Matthew J. Kotchen & David S. Rapson & Gernot Wagner, 2013. "The rebound effect is overplayed," Nature, Nature, vol. 493(7433), pages 475-476, January.
    12. Befort, N., 2021. "The promises of drop-in vs. functional innovations: The case of bioplastics," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    13. Wensing, Joana & Caputo, Vincenzina & Carraresi, Laura & Bröring, Stefanie, 2020. "The effects of green nudges on consumer valuation of bio-based plastic packaging," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 178(C).
    14. Imbens, Guido W & Angrist, Joshua D, 1994. "Identification and Estimation of Local Average Treatment Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 62(2), pages 467-475, March.
    15. Bernstad, A. & la Cour Jansen, J. & Aspegren, A., 2013. "Door-stepping as a strategy for improved food waste recycling behaviour – Evaluation of a full-scale experiment," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 94-103.
    16. Anirban Basu & Norma B. Coe & Cole G. Chapman, 2018. "2SLS versus 2SRI: Appropriate methods for rare outcomes and/or rare exposures," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(6), pages 937-955, June.
    17. Li Chuan-Zhong & Mattsson Leif, 1995. "Discrete Choice under Preference Uncertainty: An Improved Structural Model for Contingent Valuation," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 256-269, March.
    18. Confente, Ilenia & Scarpi, Daniele & Russo, Ivan, 2020. "Marketing a new generation of bio-plastics products for a circular economy: The role of green self-identity, self-congruity, and perceived value," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 431-439.
    19. Barbarossa, Camilla & De Pelsmacker, Patrick & Moons, Ingrid, 2017. "Personal Values, Green Self-identity and Electric Car Adoption," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 190-200.
    20. Santarius, Tilman & Soland, Martin, 2018. "How Technological Efficiency Improvements Change Consumer Preferences: Towards a Psychological Theory of Rebound Effects," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 414-424.
    21. Ida Ferrara & Paul Missios, 2012. "A Cross-Country Study of Household Waste Prevention and Recycling: Assessing the Effectiveness of Policy Instruments," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 88(4), pages 710-744.
    22. Angrist, Joshua D, 2001. "Estimations of Limited Dependent Variable Models with Dummy Endogenous Regressors: Simple Strategies for Empirical Practice: Reply," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 19(1), pages 27-28, January.
    23. Christopher L. Skeels & Frank Windmeijer, 2018. "On the Stock–Yogo Tables," Econometrics, MDPI, vol. 6(4), pages 1-23, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Sandra Notaro & Elisabetta Lovera & Alessandro Paletto, 2022. "Behaviours and attitudes of consumers towards bioplastics: An exploratory study in Italy," Journal of Forest Science, Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences, vol. 68(4), pages 121-135.
    2. Léa Barbault & Olivier Brette & Nathalie Lazaric & Valérie Massardier & Valérie Revest, 2023. "Bio-based Plastics: a ‘Sustainable’ Alternative for the Plastic Industry?," Post-Print halshs-04188889, HAL.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ankinée Kirakozian, 2016. "One Without The Other? Behavioural And Incentive Policies For Household Waste Management," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(3), pages 526-551, July.
    2. Agnès Festré & Pierre Garrouste & Ankinée Kirakozian & Mira Toumi, 2017. "The Pen Might Be Mightier than the Sword: How Third-party Advice or Sanction Impacts on Pro-environmental Behavior," GREDEG Working Papers 2017-15, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France, revised Aug 2017.
    3. Damiano Fiorillo & Luigi Senatore, 2020. "Pro-social behaviours, waste concern and recycling behaviour in Italy at the end of the 1990s," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 22(2), pages 127-151, April.
    4. Valente, Marica, 2023. "Policy evaluation of waste pricing programs using heterogeneous causal effect estimation," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    5. Ferrara, Ida & Missios, Paul, 2011. "A Cross-Country Study of Household Waste Prevention and Recycling: Assessing the Effective of Policy Instruments," MPRA Paper 70811, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Ju-Chin Huang, & John M. Halstead, & Shanna B. Saunders, 2011. "Managing Municipal Solid Waste with Unit-Based Pricing: Policy Effects and Responsiveness to Pricing," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 87(4), pages 645-660.
    7. Ferrara, Ida & Missios, Paul, 2016. "Reduce, Reuse or Recycle? Household Decisions over Waste Prevention and Recycling," MPRA Paper 74863, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Takehiro Usui & Kenji Takeuchi, 2014. "Evaluating Unit-Based Pricing of Residential Solid Waste: A Panel Data Analysis," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 58(2), pages 245-271, June.
    9. Paul Missios & Ida Ferrara, 2011. "A Cross-Country Study of Waste Prevention and Recycling," Working Papers 028, Ryerson University, Department of Economics.
    10. Guillermo Cruces & Sebastian Galiani, 2003. "Generalizing the Causal Effect of Fertility on Female Labor Supply," Labor and Demography 0310002, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Tobias Erhardt, 2019. "Garbage In and Garbage Out? On Waste Havens in Switzerland," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 73(1), pages 251-282, May.
    12. Mont, Daniel & Nguyen, Cuong, 2013. "Does Parental Disability Matter to Child Education? Evidence from Vietnam," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 88-107.
    13. Jürgen Maurer & Katherine M. Harris, 2016. "Learning to Trust Flu Shots: Quasi‐Experimental Evidence from the 2009 Swine Flu Pandemic," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(9), pages 1148-1162, September.
    14. Daniela Benavente, 2010. "Constraining and supporting effects of the multilateral trading system on U.S. unilateralism," IHEID Working Papers 09-2010, Economics Section, The Graduate Institute of International Studies.
    15. Chiburis, Richard C. & Das, Jishnu & Lokshin, Michael, 2012. "A practical comparison of the bivariate probit and linear IV estimators," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 117(3), pages 762-766.
    16. Alberto Galasso & Mark Schankerman & Carlos J. Serrano, 2013. "Trading and enforcing patent rights," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 44(2), pages 275-312, June.
    17. Omar Galárraga & David S. Salkever & Judith A. Cook & Stephen J. Gange, 2010. "An instrumental variables evaluation of the effect of antidepressant use on employment among HIV‐infected women using antiretroviral therapy in the United States: 1996–2004," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(2), pages 173-188, February.
    18. Hage, Olle & Söderholm, Patrik & Berglund, Christer, 2009. "Norms and economic motivation in household recycling: Empirical evidence from Sweden," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 155-165.
    19. Mustafa Özer & Jan Fidrmuc & Mehmet Ali Eryurt, 2018. "Maternal education and childhood immunization in Turkey," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(8), pages 1218-1229, August.
    20. Giuseppe Moscelli & Hugh Gravelle & Luigi Siciliani, 2018. "Effects of Market Structure and Patient Choice on Hospital Quality for Planned Patients," School of Economics Discussion Papers 1118, School of Economics, University of Surrey.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Recycling; Field experiment; Bioplastics;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:191:y:2022:i:c:s0921800921003049. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolecon .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.