Household-Level Strategies to Tackle Plastic Waste Pollution in a Transitional Country

Abstract

As one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, Vietnam is tackling environmental pollution, particularly plastic waste. This study contributes to the literature on environmental culture and practical solutions by better understanding households’ behaviours and motivations for (i) sorting waste, (ii) contributing to the environmental fund and (iii) relocating. The questionnaire-based interview method was used to randomly collect information from 730 households in 25 provinces in Vietnam during February 2022. Bayesian regression models, coupled with the mindsponge mechanism, were applied to analyse the data. The results showed that people’s strategies and responses to plastic waste pollution vary: 38.63% of respondents were sorting waste at home, 74.25% of households agreed to contribute to the environmental fund, and 23.56% had a plan to relocate for a better living place. The households’ strategies and intentions were driven by several structural and contextual factors such as age of household head, income, care about the environment, and the perceived effects of polluted waste. More importantly, communication was a robust variable in sorting waste decisions, which suggested that better communication would help increase people’s awareness and real actions in reducing plastic waste and ultimately improving the environment. These findings will benefit the ongoing green economy, circular economy, and green growth transition toward more sustainable development, particularly in developing and fast-population-growing countries.