How Does the Student's Perception Towards Eco-Bags Affects the Waste

Management?

Introduction

It is impossible to deny that the rapid economic growth brought by shopping

malls to cities and towns comes at a cost to the environment. Plastic bags used by

supermarkets or hypermarkets and strewn across riversides, schools, public parks,

restaurants, parking lots, and national highways, for example, can cause pollution,

contamination, and disease in the general public. Although some measures to

mitigate the problem have been implemented, such as the use of oxobiodegradable

plastic bags, the efforts appear to be insufficient given the severity of the problem.

The drive to support green consumerism must consider the importance of local

consumers, their behavior, and their perceptions of it, rather than just the company's,

government's, or environmentalists' perspectives. While there have been studies on

green marketing in the Philippines, published findings on ecological and green

marketing issues in developing cities and towns in relation to the use of EcoFriendly

Bags appear to be unavailable. As the negative effects of plastics become more

well-known, Consumers, particularly in urban areas, cause damage on the planet.

Residents were now willing to take appropriate measures to address environmental

issues (Gano-an J. C., 2018).

More proenvironmental behaviors are linked to awareness of environmental

issues that are personally experienced. Environmental behavior is influenced more

by local issues than by regional or national issues. Incorporating environmental

issues in the community may improve education and lead to positive environmental

behaviors, such as understanding the causes of flooding and how to mitigate them,
the nature of pollutants and pollution solutions, chemistry in water safety, and so on

(Peña P.N. et al., 2018).

According to the regional survey, age has a significant impact on people's

shopping habits, particularly their frequency of shopping. Other statistically

significant relationships included: educational level versus awareness of government

policies; type of shopping bag used versus type of shopping bag preferred; type of

shopping bag used versus number of times the shopping bag was reused; use of

polythene as a shopping bag versus shopping-bag preferred; use of polythene

versus support of government to ban polythene-shopping-bags; people with cars

versus willingness to walk; people with cars versus willingness to walk; people with

cars versus willingness to (Madara D. et al., 2016). Despite the fact that the bag is

expensive, consumers showed interest in it and believed they were willing to pay for

it in order to reduce pollution and support the environment. The high level of

perception about the price of Eco-bags is a good indicator that consumers value this

bag as being more environmentally friendly. In this case, the consumers essentially

considered the opportunity cost of cellophanes. The public accepts the challenge of

environmental protection at a high level, and society as a whole is ready to accept it

(Gano-an J. C., 2018).

Methods

The researchers started this systematic literature review with a question which

states “How Does the Student's Perception Towards Eco-Bags Affects the Waste

Management of Kidapawan City?”. After that, the researchers looked for the precise

and concise related articles or journals to serve as further knowledge for the selected

research question. The search terms or key words that are employed in collecting
data for the systematic literature review such as; Eco-bags and waste management.

Additionally, we looked for articles that are in an academic setting and some are

employed in the Philippine setting. Furthermore, the research used Google Schoolar

as database, also followed and answer the format of the given matrix. Determining

the database, title, author & year, research design, subjects or respondents, key

findings of the related literature and lastly the scope or the limits of related

literatures. After filling up the matrix, we then start to make this Systematic literature

review.

As mentioned above, the researchers looked for the precise articles or

journals that are related to the selected research question to serve as further

knowledge for this systematic literature review, as this has become the criteria for

the selection of related studies. The search terms or key words that are employed in

collecting data for the systematic literature review such as; Eco-bags and waste

management. Additionally, the researchers searched for articles that are in an

academic setting and some are employed in the Philippine setting. The researchers

identified relevant studies for the selected research question for further analysis. The

particular areas that are looked in the conclusion among the selected articles, where

it is essential for further analysis in this systematic literature review.

Results

The database used for the searching of related studies is Google Scholar.

The number of studies that were selected and employed in this systematic literature

review are 3 selected related studies. The studies that were selected are related to

the selected research question.

 The first study is by J. C. Gano-an (2018) entitled “Consumers’ preferences

on the use of eco-friendly bags: A green marketing perspective,” where his study is

conducted in the City of Tagum. The research design that their study employed is

the quantitative research design. The researchers developed a survey questionnaire

to gain substantive understanding regarding the perception of the consumers on

using ecofriendly bags. Using the random sampling method, the questionnaires were

distributed to a total sample of 230 consumers. The survey was done in the major

shopping malls and centers of the city. The results of their survey revealed that

consumers were aware about the efforts of environmentalists and government to

reduce the use of plastic bags and begin using tote/eco-friendly bags when

shopping. It appears that consumers drew high awareness about the green

marketing initiatives and showed above medium interest in it. The results in their

survey revealed that consumers were aware about the efforts of environmentalists

and government to reduce the use of plastic bags and begin using tote/eco-friendly

bags when shopping. With the mean score of 4.09, it appears that consumers drew

high awareness about the green marketing initiatives and showed above medium

interest in it (J. C. Gano-an, 2018).

The second study is by Dela Peña, P.N. et al. (2018) entitled “Environmental

Awareness and Pro-Environmental Behaviors of High School Students in Los Baños,

Laguna,” where their study is conducted in Laguna. The research design that their

study employed is the quantitative research design. The survey was administered to

third year high school students. 89 out of 120 third year high school students were

selected to answer the survey. Data from the responses were analyzed using SPSS

software, using Cronbach coefficient alpha to determine the reliability of the survey

and Spearman Rho correlation for interpretation of the relationships between

variables. A moderate positive correlation is observed between reported

environmental awareness and environmental behavior (Dela Peña, P.N. et al.,

2018).

The third study is by Madara D.S. et al. (2016) entitled “Consumer-Perception

on Polyethylene-Shopping-Bags” where their study is conducted in the town of

Nakura, Eldoret, Kitale in Kenya. The research design that their study employed is

the quantitative research design. A cross-stratification-technique was used, to

determine the subject-sample-size of 384 respondents from three-towns, in total. A

survey questionnaire was selected, which was pre-tested to ensure its validity and

reliability. From the regional-survey, it was discovered that age has a significant-

influence on people’s shopping habits, especially frequency of shopping. It was also

exposed that factors of no statistical significance as regards the use of shopping

bags in the Rift-Valley province of Kenya Through this-research it was revealed, that

most-respondents agreed to environmental-devastation and dangers to humanity,

posed by the uncontrolled-use of polythene-shopping-bags. Some skeptical-people

argued that banning polythene-bags might increase the level of unemployment,

which in turn, may lead to increased-crime in most-urban-centers (Madara D.S. et

al., 2016).

Discussion and Conclusion

The common findings of the reviewed studies is the level of literacy towards

the contribution of eco-bags to the waste management is at low. J.C. Gano-an

(2018) published a paper titled "Consumers' Preferences on the Use of Eco-Friendly

Bags: A Green Marketing Perspective," which was conducted in Tagum. Consumers

appear to have a high level of awareness of green marketing initiatives and a

moderate level of interest in them. Consumers were aware of environmentalists' and

government's attempts to minimize the use of plastic bags and starting utilizing

tote/eco-friendly bags when shopping, according to the results of their survey. With a

mean score of 4.09, it suggests that customers are well-informed about green

marketing initiatives and are interested in them (J. C. Gano-an, 2018). Dela Peña,

P.N. et al. (2018) conducted a study in the city of Laguna entitled “Environmental

Awareness and Pro-Environmental Behaviors of High School Students in Los Baños,

Laguna. Results have shown that there is a moderate positive correlation is

observed between reported environmental awareness and environmental behavior.

“Consumer-Perception on Polyethylene-Shopping-Bags” is a study conducted by

Madara D.S. et al. (2016) determined the subject-sample-size of 384 respondents

from three municipalities using a cross-stratification technique. The majority of

respondents believed that the unregulated use of polythene shopping bags causes

environmental destruction and poses a threat to humanity. Some skeptics stated that

prohibiting polythene bags would increase unemployment, which would lead to an

increase in crime in most urban areas. (Madara D.S. et al., 2016).

References

Gano-an, J. C. (2018). Consumers’ preferences on the use of eco-friendly bags: A

Green Marketing Perspective. Journal of Economics, Business &

Accountancy Ventura, 20(3). https://doi.org/10.14414/jebav.v20i3.1104

dela Peña, P.N., Macale, A.M. & Largo, N.N. (2018). Environmental Awareness and

Pro-Environmental Behaviors of High School Students in Los Baños,

Laguna. Journal of Nature Studies. 17(1), 56-67.

Madara, D. S., Namango, S. S., Wetaka, C. (2016). Consumer-Perception on

Polyethylene-Shopping-Bags. Journal of Environment and Earth Science.

6(11), 2224-3216.