Social Marketing to Reduce the Use of Plastic Shopping Bags in Shopping Centers of Dogonbadan: An Interventional Study

Although plastics are considered one of the country's environmental problems, little attention has been paid to reducing their use. This study aimed to design, implement and evaluate an intervention based on social marketing model to reduce the use of these products in shopping centers.

The present study consisted of descriptive-analytical and interventional phases. In the descriptive-analytical phase, the knowledge, attitude and practice of 335 people who referred to shopping centers were studied. Based on the analysis of data related to this section, the structure and content of the intervention was designed and implemented in shopping centers for one month. To evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention, the average use of plastic bags in shopping centers was compared before and after the intervention.

Ease of use by 13.3% was the most important reason for customers to use plastic bags. Education, culture building (38.4 %), and make suitable alternatives available (35.7 %) were presented as the best solution to reduce the use of plastic shopping bags. There was no statistically significant difference in behavior scores between men and women at different levels of education and employment. The average monthly use of plastic bags was equal to 226,500, which decreased by 13.3% to 196350 after the intervention (P-value<0.001).

Based on the study findings, it can be concluded the ease of use of plastic bags is the most important reason for its use and social marketing is an effective approach to reducing the use of plastic shopping bags.