Analysis of barriers that impede the elimination of single-use plastic in developing economy context

Abstract

Overcoming the issue of elimination of single-use plastic has become one of the biggest ecological scourges in the recent times. The policymakers across the globe have initiated several regulatory policies regarding the elimination of single-use plastics. In the Indian scenario, although the government became somewhat practical in including provisions in the framework of its legislations but still the implementation is at nascent stage. Several studies have cited reasons which hinder the elimination of single-use plastics; however, a comparative study to identify the relationship between these factors has not been carried out in literature which is the motivation behind the present work. With the motivation to cover the aforementioned gaps in the recent literature, the present study aims in identifying the barriers responsible for the difficulty in eliminating single-use plastics and to establish a framework to model and examine the interplay between the barriers. To achieve this, the Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) research framework has been developed. The results demonstrate that ‘Lack of manufacturing facilities to meet the demand of biodegradable single-use products’, ‘Lack of financial support for developing alternatives of single-use of plastics’, ‘Lack of government initiatives to promote biodegradable single-use products’ and ‘High cost for technologies for alternative of single-use of plastics’ are the most significant barriers in Indian scenario. Thus, it is clear from the study that the advertising of products with the use of single-use plastics does not help in eliminating or changing consumer behavior. Moreover, the dependence of customers over the plastic bag remains the same because it is light, flexible, and most importantly leak-proof and water-resistant. Thus, the government needs to take strong steps in giving financial support and recommendation to form the strategic regulation committee to monitor the issue. Alternative sources of bags also need to be made available to reduce the reliance on single-use plastic bags. The finding of the study is expected to create a single-use plastic-free environment. Based on the understanding through the conduct of the study, the essential policy measures and recommendations were proposed to assist policymakers of government bodies.