Japanese bioplastics: Educational interventions required to boost national adoption, study finds

26 Jul 2023 --- Researchers from Ritsumeikan University, Japan, have conducted a comprehensive study to understand bioplastics consumer awareness and packaging preferences in the country. Their findings reveal that Japanese consumers “have limited comprehension of bioplastics and do not exhibit unconditional preference toward them.”

“So far, attempts to improve bioplastic adoption in Japan have been hindered by a lack of clarity on the factors influencing consumer preferences. We attempted to shed light on these factors in our comprehensive large-scale study,” explains study lead professor Takuro Uehara from the College of Policy Science at Ritsumeikan University.

The goal of the study was threefold – understand how familiar consumers in Japan are with bioplastics, reveal their preferences for bioplastics based on different factors and examine how educational interventions affect their choices. 

The study revealed conditional preferences for bioplastics and attributes that have not been well studied. Consumer preferences for bioplastics were found to be based on perceptions, which the researchers found could be influenced by education on the materials.

“Our results will help Japanese industries and governments understand the type of bioplastics that would be preferred and accepted by consumers, giving them an impetus to develop more such products and improve bioplastic use,” Uehara says.

“Information dissemination can influence consumer preference for bioplastic products, which highlights the importance of awareness campaigns.”

The researchers surveyed over 12,000 respondents using questions focused on three products.Japanese bioeconomy
The researchers write that consumer acceptance of bioplastics is a “sine qua non” for transitioning to a bioeconomy. However, the factors influencing the acceptance particularly in Japan and other Asian countries, have not been studied sufficiently. 

The researchers surveyed over 12,000 respondents using questions focused on three products – 500 mL PET water bottles, three-color ballpoint pens and 500 mL shampoo bottles. 

The respondents were divided into two groups – the treatment group, who were educated on the basic distinctions between bio-based and biodegradable plastics, and the control group, who did not receive educational interventions. 

The researchers performed discrete choice experiments and text mining based on responses from these 12,000 participants. The study published in the Journal of Cleaner Production highlighted a common limited comprehension of the distinctions between bio-based, biodegradable and bioplastics among the Japanese consumers compared to the European counterparts. 

“Surprisingly, most respondents were unaware of the fact that not all bioplastics are biodegradable and bio-based. This demonstrated the need to improve consumer awareness regarding the characteristics and environmental impact of bioplastics,” the researchers state.

Complex bioplastic perceptions
The researchers found that the consumer preference for bioplastics in Japan was complex and influenced by general perceptions and personal values. 

“Most consumers were not in favor of using biomass in any of the three products. Among the different types of feedstock, they preferred sugarcane over wood chips, and favored waste cooking oil the least. This was likely owing to their greater emphasis on quality than on the trade-offs of biomass feedstock.”

The respondents suggested the reduction in CO2 emissions as the most valued attribute across all three products in both the control and treatment groups. Another key factor was biodegradability, which was associated with positive responses from participants. 

Significantly, the respondents expressed a preference for bioplastics in domestic products, although the reasons were generally related to safety, quality and reliability rather than environmental concerns.

The findings also showed that educational interventions can influence consumer decisions, increasing their willingness to pay for more environmentally friendly products, including those with better feedstock incorporation and those enabling reductions in CO2 emissions.

“Our study has three policy implications: Guidelines for advancing bioplastic products, education to improve consumer perceptions of bioplastics and context dependency of effective policies for introducing bioplastic products,” conclude the study authors.

By Radhika Sikaria