The English Plastic Bag Charge and Behavioural Spillover: A Field Experiment, Diary Study and Secondary Data Analysis

英国塑料袋收费与行为溢出：现场实验、日记研究和二手数据分析

• 批准号: ES/M00385X/1
• 负责人: Wouter Poortinga
• 金额: $ 48.57万
• 依托单位: CARDIFF UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2015 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FM00385X%2F1
• 关键词: English; Plastic; Bag; Charge; Behavioural

One of the greatest challenges of sustainable development is to find effective and acceptable policies that can foster meaningful and lasting behaviour change. While many people can be encouraged to recycle by providing adequate facilities, it is very difficult to change other waste-related habits. At the same time, governments have become less willing to introduce expensive regulation. Consequently there is great interest in low-cost, socially acceptable policies that help support behaviour change. The plastic bag charge (PBC) that is going to be introduced in England in October 2015 can be seen as such an instrument. Previous research has shown that PBCs are popular, easy to implement, and can successfully reduce plastic bag use (Convery et al. 2007; Poortinga et al. 2013).Some policy-makers hope that the benefits may go even further, in that changes to a relatively simple behaviour may lead to other, more ambitious changes (Defra 2008). The first behaviour change may serve as a 'foot in the door' to help establish experiences that may subsequently lead to other changes - also known as behavioural spillover (Thogersen & Crompton 2009). This holds the promise that significant cost-effective changes can be made without burdensome regulation. Indeed, previous research conducted by the applicants found significant changes in environmental identity after a similar carrier bag charge was introduced in Wales in October 2011 (Poortinga et al. 2013). However, there is very little evidence of behavioural spillover in the environmental domain.The overall aim of the project is to generate high-quality field-experimental and qualitative evidence of lifestyle change and potential BSO resulting from the English PBC. The introduction of the English PBC is a unique opportunity to conduct this research, as it is a relatively simple instrument that aims to change a specific and common waste-related habit. However, little is known about the lifestyle impacts of a PBC. The observation that even small charges produce great changes, suggests that a PBC acts as a 'habit disruptor' that forces shoppers to rethink their plastic bag use, rather than as an economic instrument (Poortinga 2013). Furthermore, as 'bringing your own bag' is a highly visible and symbolic behaviour, it may change how people perceive themselves in terms of waste-consciousness. This then may lead to other waste-related behaviour changes.The project builds upon previous research of the applicants (Poortinga et al. 2013), but will expand the scale and depth of the study by conducting a mixed-method longitudinal programme of work, including (1) a novel field experiment, (2) a qualitative diary study, and (3) secondary data analyses, to examine in detail how effective a PBC can be; how it works; and whether it can produce behavioural spillover. It will use Wales and Scotland as comparators to allow the effects of the English PBC to be separated from other trends in carrier bag use and waste practices. Furthermore, the proposed project uses secondary data analysis and a behaviour mapping exercise to identify the most likely candidates for behavioural spillover.

可持续发展的最大挑战之一是找到有效和可接受的政策，以促进有意义和持久的行为改变。虽然提供足够的设施可以鼓励很多人进行回收，但要改变其他与废物有关的习惯是非常困难的。与此同时，政府也不太愿意引入昂贵的监管。因此，人们对有助于改变行为的低成本、社会可接受的政策很感兴趣。英国将于2015年10月推出的塑料袋收费（PBC）可以被视为这样一种手段。先前的研究表明，PBCs很受欢迎，易于实施，并且可以成功地减少塑料袋的使用（Convery et al. 2007; Poortinga et al. 2013）。一些政策制定者希望这种好处可能会更进一步，因为改变相对简单的行为可能会导致其他更雄心勃勃的变化（Defra 2008）。第一个行为变化可能作为“入门”，以帮助建立可能随后导致其他变化的经验-也称为行为溢出（Thogersen & Crompton 2009）。这就有希望在没有繁琐监管的情况下进行具有成本效益的重大变革。事实上，申请人之前进行的研究发现，在2011年10月威尔士引入类似的购物袋收费后，环境特性发生了重大变化（Poortinga等人，2013年）。该项目的总体目标是产生高质量的实地实验和定性证据，证明英国PBC导致的生活方式改变和潜在的BSO。英国PBC的推出为开展这项研究提供了一个独特的机会，因为它是一个相对简单的工具，旨在改变一种特定和常见的与废物有关的习惯。然而，人们对PBC对生活方式的影响知之甚少。即使是很小的费用也会产生很大的变化，这表明PBC作为一种“习惯破坏者”，迫使购物者重新考虑他们的塑料袋使用，而不是作为一种经济手段（Poortinga 2013）。此外，由于“自带包”是一种高度可见和象征性的行为，它可能会改变人们在废物意识方面对自己的看法。这可能会导致其他与废物有关的行为改变。该项目建立在申请人以前的研究基础上（Poortinga等人，2013年），但将通过进行混合方法的纵向工作计划来扩大研究的规模和深度，包括（1）新的田间实验，（2）定性日记研究，和（3）二级数据分析，详细审查建设和平委员会的效力如何;如何运作;以及是否能产生行为外溢效应。它将使用威尔士和苏格兰作为比较对象，以便将英国PBC的影响与购物袋使用和废物做法的其他趋势分开。此外，拟议的项目利用二级数据分析和行为绘图工作，以确定最有可能产生行为溢出效应的对象。

项目成果

The English plastic bag charge: Changes in attitudes and behaviour

英国塑料袋指控：态度和行为的变化

• 发表时间: 2016
• 作者: Poortinga W

The impact of parenthood on environmental attitudes and behaviour: a longitudinal investigation of the legacy hypothesis.

• DOI: 10.1007/s11111-017-0291-1
• 发表时间: 2018
• 期刊: Population and environment
• 影响因子: 3.3
• 作者: Thomas GO;Fisher R;Whitmarsh L;Milfont TL;Poortinga W
• 通讯作者: Poortinga W

Preliminary Findings of the English Plastic Bag Charge Survey

英国塑料袋收费调查的初步结果

• 发表时间: 2015
• 作者: Thomas G

Habit Discontinuity, Self-Activation, and the Diminishing Influence of Context Change: Evidence from the UK Understanding Society Survey.

• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0153490
• 发表时间: 2016
• 期刊: PloS one
• 影响因子: 3.7
• 作者: Thomas GO;Poortinga W;Sautkina E
• 通讯作者: Sautkina E

The Welsh Single-Use Carrier Bag Charge and behavioural spillover

• DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvp.2016.05.008
• 发表时间: 2016-09
• 期刊: Journal of Environmental Psychology
• 影响因子: 6.9
• 作者: G. Thomas;W. Poortinga;E. Sautkina