| dc.description.abstract | Plastic carrier bags have a large environmental impact. Not only the production of plastic bags is unsustainable due to the raw material use and their low recycling rate, plastic bags also have shown to be a large source of pollution, both on land as in the oceans. This study examined the effect of implementing three scenario situations in which a ban on plastic carrier bags was implemented in the city of Utrecht. The study was carried out by conducting a survey among consumers in the city of Utrecht. In this survey, respondents were asked about their current carrier bag use and how their behaviour would change in the different scenarios. Not only consumers behaviour was examined, also a screening LCA was performed in which the environmental impact of the purchase of carrier bags in the current situation was compared with the three scenarios.
Results showed that the decrease in purchase of carrier bags does not outweigh the increase in environmental impact due to the shift from plastic carrier bags to carrier bags considered for multiple use. A scenario in which not only plastic carrier bags are banned, but single use paper bags are banned as well, showed to have the highest decrease in purchase of bags and the lowest environmental impact of the researched scenarios. Still, the environmental impact is 112% higher than the current situation (expressed in shadow costs). When the number of carrier bags purchased decrease by 68% compared to the current situation, the environmental impacts were similar to the current situation. This would amount to the purchase of 1 bag (considered for multiple use) per person each month. The impact of litter decreases when implementing any ban on plastic carrier bags. The implementation of reuse of carrier bags has shown to have a significant effect on the results, and the environmental impact of the strictest scenario becomes lower than the current situation. If a ban on plastic carrier bags is implemented, it is recommended that paper bags are banned as well, since they have a high environmental impact. Additionally, carrier bags should never be offered for free, since the study showed that this leads to overconsumption. | |
