Abstract
Disposable/ Single-use plastic has become more prevalent in production and consumption than other materials due to the advantages it may bring. However, wastes from SUP, especially plastic packages, account for nearly half of the global plastic wastes, causing potential environmental problems. Students are not only a big group but also an influential group in the process of reducing SUP in Vietnam. Research on the state of students’ usage of SUP aiming at recommendations to raising awareness, changing attitudes and behavior of consuming SUP products among Vietnamese university students will contribute to spread the positive impacts on the society. The survey carried out in a sample of 362 university students to explore the state of usage and the factors affecting the usage of SUP among Vietnamese students. SUP products that often used by students include nylon bags, water bottles, cups, straws, food containers, spoons, plates, knives, etc. Frequency of using plastic bags is from 6 to 10 or more than 10 time a week. 87.6% of students are partly aware, but only 45% understood the full impact of SUP products on the environment. Up to 95.6% of students are willing to participate in environmental programs or join the program if the program be organized with appropriate content. Therefore, universities need to promote the organization of communication programs, implement effective environmental events to attract the participation of students. Other recommendations were figured out based on survey’s results on students’ intention to reduce using SUP products and students’ point of view of the Government role in SUP products reducing programs.
Key words: Disposable/ single-use plastic (SUP), Vietnamese students, students’ intention and point of view.
1. Introduction
Disposable plastic (also called as Single-use plastic, SUP), has become more prevalent in production and consumption than other materials due to the advantages it may bring. However, wastes from SUP, especially plastic packages, account for nearly half of the global plastic wastes, causing potential environmental problems. According to the UN Environment Program (UNEP)’s report on “Plastic Recycling: an Underperforming Sector Ripe for a Remake” (02 January 2019), until then, only 9% of the nine billion tons of produced plastics has been recycled, most of the remaining ended up in landfills or the environment. Studies showed that disposable plastics, such as bags and plastic containers made from expanded polystyrene, could take thousands of years to decompose, causing land and water pollution. If the current usage and waste management systems remain unchanged, there will be approximately 12 billion tons of plastic wastes in landfills and the environment in 2050. The negative impacts of disposable plastics on economics, health, and the environment are undeniable. According to the report “Reducing Plastic Waste in Vietnam” (26 March 2020) from National Centre for Socio-Economic Information and Forecast (NCIF), the amount of plastic wastes in the Asia-Pacific Region has caused $1.3 billion losses in tourism, fishery, and transportation industry.
In Vietnam, according to the report by Ministry of Natural Resources & Environment’s (September 2019), plastic waste pollution, especially SUP waste, has become an alarming issue. It is estimated that Vietnam disposed of more than 1.8 million tons of plastic waste per year. However, only 27% of them have been recycled. Vietnam is also facing the risk of becoming a global landfill, with the amount of plastic waste increasing 200% last year. The plastic annual usage in Vietnam has been increased significantly from 3.8 kilograms to 41.3 kilograms per person during the period of 1990 to 2019.
In the view of Vietnamese students, the usage of SUP have become more widespread due to their features such as cheap, convenient, easy to use and carry. Those SUP, including plastic cups, plastic straws, plastic food containers, plastic bottles, and nylon bags, seem to be prevalent among students’ daily life.
Besides to the number of more than 2 million students from universities and colleges across the nation, there exist concerns about the issue of the amount of SUP used and SUP waste released by students. The usage of SUP have raised as an alarming issue, especially for big universities in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Hai Phong, Can Tho.
Due to the limited financial resources, students, especially male ones, tend to buying food instead of cooking, since cooking causes them more difficulties compared to female students. Accompanied by food soft-containers are nylon bags and single-use spoons. The amount of disposable plastic wastes may even be vaster in the case of students living in dormitories as they are not allowed to cook their food.
The amount of disposable plastic cups is also remarkably large. Sidewalk cafes are one of the students’ ideal destinations, and they have numerous customers daily. As a result, thousands of SUP cups have been littered to the environment.
Bubble tea consumed by students is also a large SUP disposing source since this is a popular product among the young generation. This customer sector has the bubble tea drinking frequency 60% higher than other groups. The bubble tea market research stated that 24% of the age of 15-21 were consuming this drink twice or three times a week, the highest compared to other groups; and students are the potential target customers for bubble tea stores. Averagely, a cup of bubble tea disposes of about 3 to 4 single-use plastic products.
Contributing in the effort of raising awareness about protecting the environment among students, many universities have launched the campaign named “Avoiding plastic wastes” with particular and efficient activities, including not using SUP products at conferences. Some universities such as Hung Vuong University, University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City decided not to use SUP cups and bottles in all their events/ activities.
In Hanoi, many universities have launched the campaign of ‘saying no’ to plastic waste. Dai Nam University has decided to end using disposable plastic water bottles, straws, and other products in the universities’ activities since 30 October 2019, in which students are the main forces and play a meaningful role. Accordingly, other universities such as Hanoi University of Natural Resources and Environment, Academy of Journalism and Communication, Hanoi Law University, etc. have also responded and implemented the campaign. The propaganda activities aiming at reducing single-use plastic usage have been promoted on several media channels.
In addition, there have been competitions for students to seek creative solutions to limit SUP products at universities. For example, in the academic year of 2019 – 2020, Viet Nam National University, Ho Chi Minh City organized the “No plastic” competition. The participants were divided into groups of three to five students. Each group was required to make plans and creative ideas to solve different social issues, including Pollution, Food safety, Sustainable tourism, and present their works with the Judges.
Students are in the age group that is the best to receive new information, control their behavior, create exclusive ideas as well as readily develop themselves. Moreover, this student group will become business managers, policymakers, and will make decisions on several issues in the future. Students are not only a big group but also an influential group in the process of reducing SUP in Vietnam.
Therefore, research on the state of students’ disposable plastic usage aiming at recommendations to raising awareness, changing attitudes and behavior of consuming SUP products among Vietnamese university students will contribute to spread the positive impacts on the society.
2. Method
- Secondary data using method: Secondary data were collected from published reports, scientific magazines and published databases.
- Method for collecting primary data: Primary data were collected via a survey carried out offline and online, in order to access students from different areas across the nation. The survey questionairs included questions about personal information, the state of SUP usage, and the factors affecting the usage of SUP. Totally 362 responses were sent back to the research team, in which 340 were valid (contain sufficient information), including 256 online and 84 direct collections.
3. Results
3.1. Characteristic of the Survey’s Respondents
The survey was participated by 362 students from several Vietnamese universities. After removing invalid responses, 340 answers were used for the research analysis, including 98 male participants (account for 28.8%), and 242 female participants (account for 71.2%).
Students responded to the survey were mainly in the second and third academic year, which are 64.2% of the total. This group is believed to have enough time in the university environment and be able to improve the problems that schools may face in the future.
Among 340 students with valid answers, there were 114 respondents (33.5%) studying for Business and Administrative major, 53 people (15.6%) studying Environment major, while the Engineering major accounted for 7.9% with 27 respondents. 19 people (5.6%) were students from Medical and Health majors, 14 students from Computer Science and Informative Technology major; the remaining 113 respondents (33.2%) were studying other majors.
Figure 1: Student Respondents by Majors
Source: Survey conducted by the research team
3.2. Types of Plastic Products often Consumed By Students
Plastic products that often used by students include nylon bags, water bottles, plastic cups, straws, food containers, and other products (such as plastic spoons, plates, knives, etc.) There were 83 respondents (24.4%) having used 2 plastic product types, 94 people (27.6%) responded having used 3 types, 16 people (4.7%) have used 4 types and 75 people (22%) responded having used more than 4 product types.
For each type of product, there are 316 students participating in the survey responded that they used nylon bags, account for 92.9%; 258 people (76%) have used plastic bottles; plastic cups and straws have been used by 146 (43%) and 164 (48%), respectively. 122 participants responded using plastic containers, which account for 35.9%, and there were 9 responses using other products. This can be referred that nylon bags are the most popular disposable plastic, followed by plastic bottles, straws, cups, food containers, and other products.
3.3. Frequency of Students’ SUP Consumption
Research findings showed that: up to 84.6% of responding students used from 6 to 10 nylon bags or more than 10 bags a week. Nylon bags are often used when shopping at the market, buying takeaway food or drinks. The main reason for using such a large amount of nylon bags is the irreplaceable features of convenience and lightweight. The frequency of using plastic bottles mostly ranged between 1-2 products/week and 3-5 products/week, accounting for 65.8% of the respondents. 26.6% of participants used plastic cups about 1-2 cups/week, 57% of students responded never using single-use plastic cups. 34.8% used plastic straws at the level of 1-2 straws/week.
Figure 2: Frequency of Students’ SUP Consumption (per week)
Source: Survey conducted by the research team
3.4. Places Where Students Using SUP
Answered to the question “Where do you usually use SUP products?”, there were 287 student respondents (84.4%) said that they use SUP products at local markets and sidewalk vendor shops; 290 people (55.9%) used SUP products at food stores; 60 respondents (17.6%) used SUP products when shopping at commercial malls; 68 students (20%) responded that they bought SUP products for household purposes. These data showed that the plastic usage level at local markets and convenience stores is relatively high, while the amount of actively buying for household use is much less. This can suggest that the SUP usage level of students depends largely on the amount they receive from sellers.
Figure 3: SUP Using Locations
Source: Survey conducted by research team
3.5. Reasons for Using SUP Products
Reasons given for consuming SUP products include: Products are at low price; Products are convenient to use; Products are lightweight; Products are clean; Products are available and there are almost no substitute products. The most popular option was "The SUP products are convenient to use" which sellected by 81.5% of respondents (277 people). 113 people (32.2%) used SUP products because of the lack of substitute products. Most of the respondents sellected more than one options.
Figure 4: Reasons for Using SUP Products
Source: Survey conducted by the research team
3.6. Students’ Awareness of the Harmful Effect of Using SUP Products
Having researched about the impact of SUP, the survey figured out 6 popular impacts: (1) Products and their wastes are harmful to the environment; (2) Products and their wastes are harmful to human health; (3) Products and their wastes destroy the ocean and lake ecological system; (4) Products and their wastes deplete the soil nutrition; (5) Products and their wastes cause air pollution if being burned; (6) Products and their wastes cause flooding in urban areas. In which, the first impact received the highest agreement with 287 responses, accounting for 84.4 %; other impacts also got relatively high responses, ranging from 67, 3% to 83.8% of the total 340 students participating in the survey.
Table 1: Awareness about the Negative Impacts of SUP Products
|
Issues
|
Proportion of respondents (%)
|
Totally agree
|
Agree
|
Neutral
|
Disagree
|
Totally disagree
|
Impact 1
|
Consuming SUP products harms the environment
|
47,1
|
37,3
|
6,5
|
6,5
|
2,6
|
Impact 2
|
Consuming SUP products harms human health
|
27,9
|
39,4
|
22,1
|
7,4
|
3,2
|
Impact 3
|
Consuming SUP products destroys the ocean and lake ecology
|
54,8
|
28,8
|
7,9
|
5
|
3,5
|
Impact 4
|
Consuming SUP products depletes soil nutrition
|
35,8
|
39,1
|
16,2
|
6,5
|
2,4
|
Impact 5
|
Burning SUP products pollutes the atmosphere
|
47,9
|
35,9
|
9,7
|
3,8
|
2,7
|
Impact 6
|
Consuming SUP products causes flooding in urban areas
|
33,3
|
40
|
17,8
|
6,8
|
2,1
|
Source: Survey conducted by the research team
3.7. Channels to Access Information about the Uses, Features and Negative Impacts of SUP Products
Being asked about the channels to access information about the uses, features, and negative impacts of SUP products, most of the respondents selected more than one channel among the given options. Specifically, there were 299 people (87.9%) answered that they received information through mass media; 288 people (84.7%) accessed on the social media; 147 people (43.2%) were informed from training courses at universities; clubs and social groups were information channels for 101 people (29.7%); 54 people (15.9%) got the information from local news; 125 people (36.8%) accessed the knowledge from friends and family; 7 people (2%) answered that they received information through other channels.
Figure 5: Information Channels to SUP Products
Source: Survey conducted by the research team
3.8. Programs and Activities at the University Related to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle (3R) of SUP Waste
Being asked about the prevalence or frequency of communication programs related to reduce, reuse and recycle of plastic waste (3R) at the university, out of 340 surveyed samples, 34 people (10%) evaluated that the programs are organized "regularly"; 188 people (55.2%) answered "occasionally", 77 people (22.6%) answered "rarely", 12 people (3.5%) answered they were not organized. Thus, it can be seen that the organization of communication programs and activities related to 3R at universities are still at a negligible level.
Figure 6: 3R Related Programs and Activities at Universities
Source: Survey conducted by the research team
3.9. Students’ Concern and Intention to Programs and Activities Related to 3R of SUP Waste
Being asked about the concern and intention to participate in programs and activities related to 3R of SUP waste at the universities, 99 students (29.1%) responded that they would surely participate; 226 students (66.5%) would decide depending on the program contents; 11 students (3.2%) answered that they were not interested. Thus, if 3R activities are well organized with diversified and realistic contents, most of the students (95.6%) would be attracted.
Table 2: Students’ Intention to Participate in Programs Related to 3R of SUP Waste
|
Intention to participate in related programs
|
Respondents
|
Proportion (%)
|
1
|
Surely participate
|
99
|
29,1
|
2
|
Depend on programs’ contents
|
226
|
66,5
|
3
|
Not interested
|
11
|
3,2
|
4
|
Others
|
4
|
1,2
|
|
Total
|
340
|
100
|
Source: Survey conducted by the research team
3.10. Intention to Reduce SUP Products among Students
Having researched on the students' intention to reduce the usage of SUP products, the survey figured out 7 ways of changing attitudes and behaviour towards the use of SUP products: (1) Intend to reduce using SUP products; (2) Intend to refuse SUP products from buying locations; (3) Intend to bring and use personal stuffs as substitutions to SUP products; (4) Willing to persuade family members to reduce using SUP products; (5) Willing to persuade friends at universities to reduce using SUP products; (6) Willing to persuade local people to reduce using SUP products; and (7) Attempt to be an example for reducing of using SUP products.
The results showed that the majority of students intend to reduce their use of SUP products, with 278 people agreed, accounting for 81.8%. In general, people are aware of using SUP products, but the number of students willing to persuade their family, friends, and the community is only at the average level, 58-67%.
Table 3: Students’ Intention to Reduce Using SUP Products
Intention
|
Issues
|
Proportion of respondents (%)
|
Totally agree
|
Agree
|
Neutral
|
Disagree
|
Totally disagree
|
|
1
|
I intend to reduce using SUP products
|
39,4
|
42,4
|
15,3
|
2,1
|
0,8
|
|
2
|
I intend to refuse SUP products from buying locations
|
20
|
35,9
|
35
|
7,4
|
1,7
|
|
3
|
I intend to bring and use personal stuffs as substitutions to SUP products
|
25,9
|
43,2
|
24,7
|
4,5
|
1,7
|
|
4
|
I am willing to persuade family members to reduce using SUP products
|
23,5
|
43,8
|
28,5
|
2,4
|
1,7
|
|
5
|
I am willing to persuade friends at universities to reduce using SUP products
|
23,2
|
40,6
|
31,2
|
3,8
|
1,2
|
|
6
|
I am willing to persuade local people to reduce using SUP products
|
19,7
|
38,5
|
36,5
|
4,1
|
1,2
|
|
7
|
I will make an effort of being an example in reducing of using SUP products
|
28,8
|
49,1
|
17,4
|
2,6
|
2,1
|
|
Source: Survey conducted by the research team
3.11. Students’ Opinions about the Government’s Role in SUP Products Reducing Programs
Having researched about students' point of view on Government's role in SUP products reducing programs, the survey has given 4 common options: (1) Government needs to promulgate policy on compulsorily limit and gradually stop using SUP products; (2) Government needs to introduce higher taxes to discourage using SUP products; (3) Government needs to motivate environment-friendly products production and consumption as substitutions to SUP products; and (4) Government needs to introduce new economic incentives (fees, fine, subsidies, etc.) to promote the production and consumption of green products in lieu of SUP products. Thus, it can be seen that students tend to support the government in intervention and policy making to support this issue, this view is similar to some other countries in the world such as the US, Thailand, etc.
Table 4: Students’ Points of Views on Government’s Role in SUP Reducing Programs
|
Issues
|
Proportion of respondents (%)
|
Totally agree
|
Agree
|
Neutral
|
Disagree
|
Totally disagree
|
1
|
Government needs to promulgate policy on compulsorily limit and gradually stop using SUP products
|
21,2
|
47,6
|
24,1
|
6,2
|
0,9
|
2
|
Government needs to introduce higher taxes to discourage using SUP products
|
19,4
|
48,2
|
25
|
6,5
|
0,9
|
3
|
Government need to motivate environment-friendly products production and consumption as substitutions to SUP products
|
31,8
|
53,5
|
12,9
|
1,2
|
0,6
|
4
|
Government needs introduce new economic incentives to promote the production and consumption of green products in lieu of SUP products
|
32,9
|
51,5
|
6,5
|
8,8
|
0,3
|
Source: Survey conducted by research team
4. Discussion and Conclusion
The communication promotion for students about the environment and the consequences of using SUP products on the environment is extremely necessary, directly affecting the thinking, thereby changing students' attitude and behavior. However, this has not yet been firmly implemented as well as not received inadequate attention. Survey findings showed that 87.6% of students are partly aware of the impact of SUP waste on the environment, but only 45% of them understood the full impact of SUP products on the environment.
In addition, 26.1% of the total respondents said that the universities did not organize environmental awareness-raising programs, or organized but have not disseminated widely, only 10% stated that such programs are held regularly. A good news is that, up to 95.6% of students are willing to participate in environmental programs or join the program if the program be organized with appropriate content. Therefore, universities need to promote the organization of communication programs or create favorable conditions for organizations to implement effective environmental events, improving both the quality and quantity of events to attract the participation of a large number of students.
For students, spending time to learn and research about environmental issues, especially the environmental pollution caused by SUP waste, is essential and practically meaningful to daily life in general and to the target of reduce/ stop using SUP products among students in particular. In addition to receiving passive information from universities and society, students should be conscious of actively finding and researching solutions to overcome this problem.
Participation in environmental protection programs is a necessary activity and has a highly positive impact on the environment and students' perceptions. Students need to access information about environmental protection programs through several channels such as the Ho Chi Minh Communist Youth Union, the University/ City's Student Association, volunteer student groups or social clubs, etc., as well as exploit and effectively use social networking platforms such as Zalo, Facebook, etc.
The survey result showed that 81.8% of students used SUP products due to their convenience, more than 65% of students used SUP because of their availability, and 46.5% concerned about the low price. Nowadays, there are SUP substitute products such as paper bags, eco-bags to substitute plastic bags on the market; bamboo straws, grass straws to substitute plastic straws; paper cups to substitute plastic cups; paper bottle shells to substitute plastic bottles. If being properly used and reused, these products' costs will not be higher than disposable/ SUP plastic products. These substitutions need the attention and response of consumers, including students, to develop and be widely used.
Besides, the Government may/ need to apply a ban or taxes on disposable/ SUP products. The survey result showed that more than 68% of respondents supported the government to enforce restrictions and proceed to ban the use of SUP products, nearly 68% supported the government's high taxation to reduce the use of SUP. In fact, the application of taxes and the ban on using SUP products implemented in many countries around the world and having achieved positive results.
In addition, the Government needs to introduce new policy employing economic instrument such as subsidies, incentives etc. for eco-friendly products and green products. This proposal has received 85% support from 340 survey samples. Currently, the prices of substitute products are largely higher than SUP products. Therefore, it is desireable to offer a reasonable subsidy to create the price competitive advantages of eco-friendly and green products in the market. This proposal could receive a wide range of support from consumers and producers.
Le Thu Hoa
hoalethu@neu.edu.vn
Tran Thi My Loc
tranmyloc266@gmail.com
Tran Thi Thu Trang
trantrang2805.neu@gmail.com
Vu Huy Huan
huanvu3009@gmail.com
Faculty of Environmental, Climate Change and Urban Studies,
National Economics University, Hanoi, Vietnam
(International Conference ICSEED2020)
5. Reference
- Vietnam Environment Administration, Department of Waste Management, (2019), “Plastic Wastes and Nylon Bags Managment in Vietnam”.
- Vietnam Plastics Associations (2019), “Import Market of Plastic Materials in the First 6 Months of 2019”
- UNEP (2018), “Single-use Plastics: A Roadmap for Sustainability”.
- National Center for Socio-Economic Information and Forecast(2020), Report on “Reducing Plastic Waste in Vietnam”.
Huong Thom (2019), “Waste from Milk Tea Brands And Corporate Responsibility”, Environment and Urban newspaper on 30 September 2019.