Research

March-September 2020

Funded by Eastern ARC

In order to reduce our reliance on single-use plastic, we need to understand the way decisions are made at a household level, and consider what interventions would be effective in changing this.

This project brings together researchers from the universities of Essex and Kent, together with a collaborator at Birkbeck, University of London, to do just that.

Building on their previous work on the behaviour patterns of consumption in households, the team will examine what part household decision making processes have in this.

Women are often responsible for making decisions about household goods and groceries, but there has been limited research on how ethical decisions are gendered. This project will provide a much deeper understanding of this for policy-makers, retailers and producers.

March-May 2021

Funded by Birkbeck, University of London

This project will use design thinking workshops to create a discursive forum to elicit collectively discussed, householder-driven, solutions to the issues identified in the previous diary and interview study.

Online participants will be drawn from particular areas of London focusing specifically on the household decision making about single use plastics in multiple-occupancy households where issues of responsibility and control differ from a traditional family context.

This research will inform a pathway towards long-term sustainable management and greater understanding of the householder’s experience with single use plastics.