Reducing Single-Use Plastic Bags to Combat Pollution: Analyzing Drivers and the Role of Environmental Policy Among Chinese Millennials

Abstract

Environmental pollution is a widespread issue with significant implications for ecological health, environmental quality, and biodiversity. Plastic pollution has become one of the most pressing environmental issues as the rapidly increasing production of disposable plastic products overwhelms the world's ability to deal with them. Moreover, plastics have become an integral part of human life, and the use of single-use plastic bags has increased in recent times, creating severe environmental pollution and global sustainability problems. Therefore, a reduction in single-use plastic bags is necessary to control environmental pollution and decrease its carbon footprint. Therefore, this study used partial least squares structural equation modeling to analyze data collected from 567 Chinese millennials to investigate the drivers of single-use plastic bag reduction to improve environmental quality in China. Moreover, the study also analyzed the moderating role of environmental policy perception between environmental concerns and single-use plastic bag use reduction to assist policymakers in improving environmental quality. The results showed that environmental knowledge, carbon footprint reduction awareness, and environmental concerns significantly affected the single-use plastic reduction attitudes of citizens. The results also indicated that environmental policy promotion assists in decreasing plastic pollution by decreasing the use of single-use plastic bags. A pro-environmental attitude was also found to positively affect single-use plastic bags. Therefore, environmental policies and awareness about the carbon footprints of individual actions should be created to control plastic pollution and improve environmental quality globally.