Issue 01/2017

Report
Bioplastics Survey
By:
Michael Thielen
As you may have noticed, we have started a new series
“Special focus on certain geographical areas”. ‘As part
of this new series we will also focus on the attitudes towards
and general perception of bioplastics across the world.
With the help of a simple survey, we want to try to explore
how well the concept of bioplastics is known and understood
throughout the various countries.
We have kicked off with a report on a visit to a shopping
center in the Netherlands, where we conducted our survey
among a (non-representative) sample of normal people.
Of those we interviewed, 63 % were male and 37 % were
female. About 23 % were aged between 20 and 40, while
77 % were between the ages of 40 and 60. This represents
the average distribution of people browsing this particular
shopping center on this Saturday morning.
When asked whether they knew what bioplastics were,
around one third responded with yes (and went on to back
this up by correctly defining these as materials of biobased
origin and/or with biodegradable features). The other 67 %
all indicated that they were interested in learning about
what bioplastics were. We briefly explained that conventional
plastics were made from oil, a scarce and depletable resource …
that burning petroleum-based products would affect climate …
that biobased plastics can be made from renewable resources
or waste streams, such as corn, sugar beet, sugar cane
or e.g. waste starch from the potato industry … and that
biodegradable/compostable plastics (whether biobased or
otherwise) can offer significant benefits, depending on the
application.
After this brief explanation, almost all of those interviewed
expressed the opinion that bioplastics were beneficial for the
environment and for the climate, or at least “less bad”, as one
young man was at pains to point out.
Asked whether they would buy products made of bioplastics,
if they should happen to see them on display at the store, 93%
confirmed that they would. Yet “only” 73 % reported that they
would be willing to pay more for such products, with most
responding: “a little more, yes”, or “but not twice as much”…
In sum, not many consumers know about or are aware
of bioplastics and their potential. However, the results
of this survey reveal that given the knowledge and the
chance, consumers – at least those we interviewed- would
opt for products using bioplastics and even be willing to
pay a small premium. This indicates an obvious need for
comprehensive end consumer education. Consumer behavior
can make a significant impact on the ways products affect the
environment. Educating consumers about bioplastics offers
a huge opportunity to promote these materials and to effect
positive changes in the shopping choices people make.
Please note that this was not a representative survey. Our survey did not ask
about factors such as educational background, family status, urban or rural
residency, etc. but was merely conducted in order to gain a first, rough idea.
bioplastics MAGAZINE [01/17] Vol. 12 39