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Going green is in the bag for Aussies
A new study by a University of the Sunshine Coast researcher has shown that Australia could be moving away from being a “disposable” society.
USC lecturer and PhD candidate Tristan Claridge is conducting research into the social factors that have contributed to people using the environmental green bags in place of plastic shopping bags.
Tristan’s three-year research project titled “Knowledge to practice: sustainability behaviour change and adoption of the green bag”, began early this year and was already showing interesting results.
“Green bags are not that great,” he said. “However, the fact that they are not thrown away and can be reused makes them a better alternative to plastic bags and represents a move away from a ‘disposable’ society.”
Tristan has a background in environmental management and, for his PhD, wanted to research why people adopted products they felt were environmentally beneficial.
“The purpose of the study is to gain a better understanding of the social influences that result in people making these changes,” he said.
“So far it has been discovered that friends and family play a significant role in influencing people’s change in behaviour and their adoption of the green bag.”
During the course of his research, Tristan will conduct individual interviews, run focus groups and distribute a survey to the wider community to determine their behaviour in relation to using green bags.
— Katrina Scott