how can biodegradable plastics save our mother

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She added that they have depended on these harmful plastics for their daily usage. ..... (2012). Times-colonist: Plastic Rivers Flow Through Haiti; Country.
HOW CAN BIODEGRADABLE PLASTICS SAVE OUR MOTHER EARTH THROUGH MARKETING?

Chin Chi Weng Centre of Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) Programs, HELP College of Arts and Technology, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Email: [email protected].

Dr. Rashad Yazdanifard Centre of Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) Programs, HELP College of Arts and Technology, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Email: [email protected].

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Abstract Today in the year 2013, we cannot deny that we are living in a very hazardous environment. These are due to our irresponsible actions. For years, we have not taken the right approach to maintain our beautiful mother earth. Scientists did a research on the harmful plastics and have found out that it takes thousands of years for plastics to be decomposed. In 2007, biodegradable plastics were invented in order solve this issue. Biodegradable plastics are the new generation of plastic materials which can be decomposed by itself. Biodegradable polymers are designed to degrade upon disposal by the actions of living organism. However, these products were meant to save our earth but it mainly depends on how we market it. Keywords: biodegradable plastics, marketing

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Introduction Many people these days do not know that our earth is depleting with oil and at the same time it also depletes in plastic. This is because the core recipe for plastics is natural gas and oil. Conversely, there are some manufacturers that rise to the occasion. They look for another source of resources to replace plastic by adding the ingredients such as sugarcane, soybeans and algae. This is how biodegradable plastics are formed. Freedonia Group made a research about the request of these bio plastic in United States of America have found out that the demand will soon increase by 20% after 2016. This shows 18.5% increase through these five years. (Hockstad, Koester, 2012). It is believe that in the year of 2010, the value of this bio plastic will be $1.6bn. (Anonymous, 2010). It is believe that sugar helps to develop biodegradable plastics. The scientists added small quantities of sugar to the plastics during manufacture, and this made them palatable to soil bacteria. These biodegradable plastic will dissolve easily instead of the harmful plastics which will take many years to do so. (Anonymous, 2003). On the other hand, Kent Furst a senior analyst from Freedonia Group ousts the industrial plastics in many periods of time in the future. Biodegradable plastic bags have been receiving quite a lot of investments and have been increasing throughout the years. This will help us to reach the level to not be dependent on the harmful plastics as the price of the oil rising up. This is also because manufacturing biodegradable plastics allows them to have better way of managing raw materials and also it has a better face value compared to oil.

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Marketing for bio degradable plastics in manufacturers Other than that, Furst and Melissa added that Coca-Cola is one of manufacturers which started to use biodegradable plastics in their products. It contains 30% of this biodegradable ingredient which is polyethylene. The key ingredient for this is extracted from sugarcane. (Furst, Hockstad, 2012). However this does not mean that all Coca-Cola bottles are made from biodegradable plastics. This may go up as the shares of the company go up too. She also stated that it is not and immediate effect but it will take some time to replace the old ones. (Hockstad, 2012) . On the other hand, Pepsi has the same approach as well. Pepsi is going to unveil their biodegradable plastic bottles to the most conjoint areas of using biodegradable plastics. Not only are the food and beverage industry companies liked Coca-Cola and Pepsi are going the right way, car manufacturers like Ford has started to make their car’s headrest by foams which are made from soybeans in the year of 2013. Lately there are some business leaders that have intentions in turning to biodegradable plastics by seeing it as good investment as it not harmful to the environment. This is also due to the emphasis on sustainability. Some asked regarding these biodegradable plastics about what are the usage for it and the source of these products. (Hockstad, 2012).

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There were rumors going on about the hefty price tag of biodegradable plastics as they are new to the market and required a stretch to improvised and be cheaper. In this situation, the plastic industries will have to come in strong to improve the biodegradable plastics to be cheaper and enhanced. Materials like polyactic acid will be the main focus here. It is been reported that materials like polyactic acid will be used widely in production. To add on to that, it does not decompose, they will have issues solving it and plastic materials may vary by each other because different products may use different plastic materials. Polyactic acid has been an issue to plastic manufacturers since it came in to the market. Since it is new to them, the researchers have been working very hard to improve them in order to not harm the environment. Research and development will get them to the level they need to. Therefore, there are some recycling companies in the world which are specified in making them better. Furthermore, polyactic acid is used by most plastic manufacturing companies; they may find ways and means to improve it too. Another plastic material that is widely used is bio-based polyethylene. It is extracted by plant-based ethanol. Plus it has a good base in many other countries helping them to be used easily. Products such as diapers can be biodegrade too as technology goes by. There were questions about how the baby diapers will degrade in time. The answer is yes, Bunny diapers are one of them. The Bunny diapers company said their plastics that are used to manufacture their products will biodegrade by the time the users are grown up. Whereby, it is important to reduce the amount of plastic waste. (Nichols, Allen, 1990). Market giants like Wal-Mart and Hollywood Megastore has made a good approach for greener earth. They provide biodegradable bags for their customers. Wal-Mart, Great Lake packaging and Hollywood Megastore source their biodegradable bags from a manufacturing company in Wuhan China name Whan Tankon Colour Print., Ltd. (Anonymous, 2011). On the other hand, some said there is no such thing as biodegradable. It is only used as a marketing strategy to increase their sales for their products. (Anonymous, 1990). People like Mike Levy from Mobil Chemical Co., stated that biodegradable plastics are not the solution to the mentality of the public, where they like to throwing rubbish as they wish. (Anonymous, 1989). Lately, Motorola a manufacturer of telephones has made a green approach too. They have going through a prototype phone casing materials which inhibits sunflower seeds in them. Hence, when they are buried, sunflower plants will grow on that particular area. (Kharif, 2005). Apparently, Coca-Cola and Motorola are testing on containers too because of the price of the oil which has been going up lately. Other than that, there were other companies which are not established but are making a move of marketing these biodegradable products. Companies like Symphony Plastic Technology are great examples. Chief executive Michael Laurier thought that the primary objectives are for fundraising. They initiate their plans as soon as possible to reduce the plastic waste. (Litterick, 2001). There were some other stores which have already stop using harmful plastics and promoting these biodegradable plastics. They sell some alternatives like cloth bags and compliment them $0.10 for every plastic bags they recycle. (Troller. 2008). In some places, biodegradable plastics can be quite pricey because of the materials. Ipsos Reid studies shows that the B.C Shoppers would love to have these biodegradable bags for free instead of having to pay for it as it can be very expensive to be used as a plastic bag. (Nagel, 2009). Some believe that these bags must be sold not be given as a charity. If this approach of biodegradable plastics need charity then what will hold our planet earth’s future? (Anonymous, 1990).

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Marketing for biodegradable plastics in countries The harmful plastic which has been used for years has been a burden to the Country Caribbean. It has taken its toll on the country’s sewage system and the aquatic livings. The utensils that are made out of it have been banned in the streets of Caribbean. Prime minister of Haiti Laurent Lamothe stated that a good decision has

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been made. Adding to that, he also said that bringing these biodegradable plastics will obviously help Haiti in the future. (Charles, Jacqueline, Morgan, Curtis, 2012). However, it is evaluated through how you market the products. (Schouven, 2006). This was one of the ideas to market biodegradable plastic in an effective way. The harmful black plastic bags have been used for some time to transport food to the poor. It was been used for many time to and flow, however it is still very harmful as it is neglected to the stream and causing them to clog as it stacks up higher and higher. The non-governmental organization is the first early ones to draw the line between themselves against these plastic bags. By October 2014, all the harmful plastic bags will be banned in supermarkets said the Argentina government. In the African continent, the first nation to ban all plastics by 2008 was Rwanda. After that, comes to cities like Bangladesh and Toronto to levy the usage of these harmful plastics. Besides that, United States of America does not get left out too. Many cities have banned the usage of the harmful plastics like from Washington to Maine. These harmful plastics bags will no longer be seen in big cities like Los Angeles as many shops will stop using them. A non-governmental organization called Surfrider Foundation complimented the country Haiti for making such a great approach to preserve the mother earth. One of the volunteers from the organization Hickman said the developed countries has been going to the right way to bring down these harmful plastic bags in most stores but on the other hand the countries which are worrying are the poor nation countries. They are the so called third world countries. On this point, it is undeniably inexpensive and has easy access however it is hard for them to recycle them. The most worrying part is these thin and light plastic bags are always on the go as they are light in weight and will fly wherever the wind blows them to. Lastly, they will end up being in the sea, killing many habitats and other aquatic livings. Things like this happen mainly, because of the price of the plastic reprocess. Hickman said that, these waste supports the global warming. These harmful plastics wont biodegrade and will take a very long time to break down into pieces when exposed to sunlight. (Charles, Jacqueline; Morgan, Curtis, 2012). The ban was informed to media such as televisions. There was a protest about the ban that has been imposed however the public later on accepted the ban. Christine Resile revealed that as a public they will obey to the rules that have been set by the government but it is not that they like to use them, it is one of the cheapest option. (Charles, Jacqueline; Morgan, Curtis, 2012). According to Etienne, she said she will cooperate with the law to fight these harmful plastic bags. Her customers will bring their own plates and bowls before they start using the environmental friendly biodegradable plastics for her business. Other than that, she also stated that the nation was cleaner than before. She added that they have depended on these harmful plastics for their daily usage. Like for instance the flood that hit them in Haiti and they are force to use the harmful plastics to drink and eat. In 2012, the Haiti Community built a house which are made by 27,000 harmful plastic collected around there. This house was built for earthquake resistance and for the poor who can’t afford. Sasha Kramer, a University of Miami professor who co-founded SOIL, a U.S. nonprofit that turns human waste into compost in Haiti, said it is difficult to imagine how the Haitian government's ban will be implemented. Kramer stated that prohibiting these harmful products won’t be effective when there are no other options left to choose. However when it has a replacement and it comes with a same price it will be successful. This might not work on those poor nations where they rely on them for their products. (Charles, Jacqueline; Morgan, Curtis, 2012). As stated above, Rwanda an African country, choose to impose the ban because it shows that these harmful plastic bags will cause them bad effect to the ecosystem and also the market of the country. Rose Mukankomeje, director general of the Rwandan Environmental Management Authority, said the ban is part of an overall government strategy promoting good hygiene among Rwandans. The effects of these biodegradable plastics are quite successful. Rwanda has been a very clean nation and there has been an increase in the number of tourist and at the same time strengthening their economy. (Charles, Jacqueline; Morgan, Curtis, 2012). Nevertheless, this will not accomplish with just that effort. To boost up the efforts done, these ban will also be done in airplanes. Packaging in airports will be used with environmental friendly materials like bananas, cotton and papyrus. The Haiti Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe said the country will have a lot to do in order to clear the debris around them. Lamothe added that, the floods that are occurring in their country are due to the sewage

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systems and it cost them a hefty $50 million for them to clear the sewage system. (Charles, Jacqueline; Morgan, Curtis, 2012). In China, manufacturers claimed that they have saved up to 6 million ton of oil when the authority ban the use of it in many supermarkets. Instead of it, they give them another plastic bag which is thinner and biodegradable for free.. (Anonymous, 2013). Today, Europe is the main market for biodegradable bags. (Gamham, 1997). F & S forecast demand inflation for biodegradable plastics. It was assumed that 25mil of the products were exported in western Europe in the year 1991, with trade there estimated to reach 172mil by 1995. (Clyde, 1994) Germany are using around 10% to 15% of biodegradable plastic in their food packagings. (Cozier, 2005)

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Marketing for the customers behavior towards biodegradable products Compared to years back then, the care of environment was not so important than today. Today, it has become one of the main factors which influence consumers to buy marketers products. However, the main factor about the pricing of the product was still in the top of the list. There has been a research about the factors that affects the consumer behavior. The research involved 1,031 people in United Kingdom. According to the research, it has increased by 36% compared to last year which is now 78% this year. 78% of them choose product price to be their main priority compared to environmental issues. Apparently, there are numerous consumers that do not care about the products which are friendly to the environment. With 52% said they are not ready to buy the environmental friendly products which are more expensive and only 9% are ready to comply with them. Conversely, these decisions will be influenced by the economy of nation. Obviously, if the nation has a good economy and the consumers will have a better buying power. Hence the pricing of the product won’t be an issue for them. Generally, the research shows the public cares about the environment too. Even though they could not contribute through buying the environmental friendly products but 90% of the public said they recycle their old products. There has been an improvement from the last research done which only 57% of them recycle. There was an increment in the buy one free one promotions in order to decrease the rubbish which is from 2% to 13%. Other than that, the amount of consumers which cares about the product wrapping does to the environment increased from 26% to 38%. Alistair Macrow the vice president of marketing in McDonald’s stated that their main focuses of their advertisements are to prove to their customers about the food quality that they consume in McDonald’s. (Costa, 2010). He then added by saying that, McDonald’s is worried about the amount of packaging being used daily. It was quite a hard time to get through but McDonald’s did make it through by stopping the usage of polystyrene, nimbler and more solvent materials to manufacture their packaging. 82% of McDonald’s packaging are made out of recycled products. Lastly, he added that it is vital to have the non-governmental organizations like Rainforest Alliance to be allies with them as it may create a recycle logo on their manufactured packaging. Hence, this will create a good image for the company. On the other hand, Rebecca Fay a marketing director in The Carbon Neutral Company states that their customers will prioritize the information showing the carbon emissions of the product. The recycle logo has come to the point where it is very important which will influence the consumer whether to buy it or not. This is because they want the organizations to have a reflection of their product on their sales. Some consumers state that the recycle logo will only improve the organizations image toward eco friendliness and would not affect their sales. (Costa, 2010). However, it will mainly be affected by the pricing of it. Wearing the recycle logo will really make a difference. 52% of consumers think that if the company is going green through the recycle logo compared to the old research which is only 49%. Consumers gain trust to the companies which shows a recycle logo and the company also gained by increasing their profit. Direct mails that feature the environmental friendly logo gained the trust from 33% of the consumers. This show the power of the recycle logo when 7% consumers think it is true when the logo is not shown. Some people may think using a window envelope as a mode to deliver direct mails is appropriate. However, some research proved that this is a blunder. It is shown that 33% of people think it is a wrong perception against the company compared to 21% of the old research. Nevertheless, this may vary

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from different marketing sectors that are run. Researchers found out that 38% of marketing sectors are going to the green way. Marketing sectors such as travel and leisure, financial services, publishing and mail deliveries are not perceive in a good in way of environmental friendliness. 4% was achieved by the travel and leisure sector and automotive industry only manage to make it 5%. This study conducted by MAP which proves that travel and leisure is the least environmental friendly industry followed by automotive industry. As we can see, the plastic that been used in the travel and leisure industry are often disposable and used one time off only. For example, disposable toothbrushes and razors given in hotels, harmful sanitary bags, laundry bags, shower caps and so on. The automotive industries display similar traits in plastic uses. For example, plastic parts in cars are often replaced even though there are minor damages are done to it. Yes, as mention above Ford a car manufacture started using biodegradable plastics in their cars but other car manufacturers companies are yet to follow in their example. Another good example is shown by Toyota whereby their model Prius uses a recycled plastic to produce some of their plastic parts. These are good approaches by these car manufacturers like Toyota and Ford to save mother earth. It is not fair to say, that consumers these days are not environmentally aware. There has been an increase in amount of consumers turning in the environmentally friendly way. However, the main concern of these consumers remains to be the prices of products. It is believe that till now pricings are still the main factors for importing these biodegradable plastics, where it can cost up to five times more than the usual plastic. (Braun, 2007). Therefore, this will alter their decisions when buying a product. Given such a bad economy faced by consumers saving a penny will soon save up to pay a car financial debt or can be used in many other ways. Cole also said countries in a recession face a major problem when dealing with the matter of price and environmental friendliness. As a country releases itself from the grasp of recession only then the gaps between price and environmental friendliness will be narrowed down. Meanwhile with such a bad economy companies will have to work very hard to win the hearts of the consumers by buying their environmental friendly products. (Casey, 2010).

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Discussion Sometimes consumers has no other choice but to turn to plastic products but consumers can use biodegradable plastics and prolong the use of plastic through recycling them. The main problem that affects the consumer to choose plastics that is harmful to the environment is the pricing of the environmental friendly biodegradable plastic. This will come to the source of it. The materials of producing these biodegradable plastics are very pricey. Companies will have to play an important role by reducing the prices of these environmental friendly biodegradable plastics. The companies which are producing these biodegradable products will have to seek a solution to market their products at a more affordable price. A way for them to achieve this is for them to bring in investors that are conscious about the environment to partner with them to tackle this problem. Even governments should be joining in with these plastic manufacturers to achieve a lower price which can in the end, help the nation with their financial burdens. Big organizations can invest in this as a part of their corporate social responsibilities. In my opinion, a corporate social responsibility program like this is can be a great way to market their organization. Imagine if a company, for example, Samsung were to invest in a biodegradable product to make it cheaper, I would happily buy the cheaper biodegradable product and support Samsung in the near future. Therefore, it is a win-win situation for consumer like me, the environment and also Samsung as they gained recognition and improve the marketing of the company. If the investors would invest in plastic manufacturing companies, they can improve their technology and eventually bring the prices of biodegradable plastic down. From my point of view, I think that technology plays a big part in influencing the pricing of these environmentally friendly biodegradable plastic products. Since the technology of producing biodegradable products is still quite new, I picture the technology used is still lacking of research and development. Hence, it will need for incentives to improve in ways such production time, cost of materials, design and many more. On the other hand, the non- governmental organization and governments should organize more campaigns to raise the awareness of the public towards environmental friendly products. Some poor countries may have very low knowledge about the environmental friendly biodegradable plastics. Worst come to worst, some may not even know the existence of it. Therefore, I believe it’s the job of the government and non-governmental organizations to educate them about these environmental friendly plastics. Media shall help to reach out to the public and give them a good picture about it. Besides that, companies that are involved in producing products for the travel and leisure sector should start inventing these environmental friendly biodegradable disposable products. It is

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believed that most of the products that consumers use such as toothbrush shower caps, laundry bags are irreplaceable disposable products. This is because hygiene factor of the hotels that they needed to preserve. In the food industries, they are using harmful Styrofoam box to package their food. Some may say they should bring their own containers to pack their food, however we must be also understanding about the consumers at hand. It is understandable that some may not have the time to bring their own containers. This is because they would have to wash the containers and also bring the containers every time they would have to purchase food. Consumer would include working adults which they would have to work very hard to make ends meet every month. Hence, they may find it to be troublesome and a big hassle to bring their own containers to the food stalls. Furthermore companies can improve their marketing by introducing consumers to their recycled products. As it is stated above, the automotive industries are creating a big waste because plastic parts that are minor damaged products are replaced easily. This will end up having too much waste around us. These plastic parts should be send back to the factory to be re-use or recycle so it won’t go down to waste. Car manufacturers like Ford and Toyota are good examples which other car manufacturers can follow. This is where the Toyota Prius are using recycled plastic parts and Ford has implement biodegradable plastics to manufacture their cars headrest. Other than that, another example can be taken is also where the Dubai Grand Prix circuit use the recycled water bottle caps to make their race event trophies. Such an innovative idea should be implemented on other grand prix circuits as well. It should be understand that it is not all about the value of the prize but the meaning behind the trophy too.

5. Conclusion To wrap this up, I think biodegradable plastic holds the future of our mother earth. We should be thankful to the inventor of these environmental friendly biodegradable plastics to help us. I would not dare to say it is the only way to save our mother earth but it really does a lot to the environment. There are organizations like Coca Cola, Pepsi, Toyota, and Ford which are going the right way but it is not enough to level which is required. Governments like in Haiti are one of the best examples to be shown to others. Even though they are a small country and often hit by Mother Nature but they still take this problem seriously. Rwanda the Africa country which is a third world country has imposed bans on harmful plastics and why not the others? Government should impose bans to those which are still using harmful plastics. To save our mother earth we would need more organizations to take part in this problem. Save our mother earth before it is too late. We all as a tenant in our planet earth I believe we all should play a role in this. Ask yourself a question would you want to live in a planet which is filled with plastic garbage?

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