Abstract:
Plastic bag ban effectiveness shows mixed outcomes, in some countries bans were effective
because of strong enforcement and availability of cost effective alternate options while, in some
countries bans neglected to pass on results on account of absence of proper execution, cost
effective options and opposition from producers. Compared to a partial ban, the fine of a full bag
ban decreases the amount of plastic bag use by both retailers and consumers. Plastic bag has
been banned in three cities of Pakistan, Islamabad, Gujranwala and Multan in August 2019.
Therefore this study investigates how retailers and consumers behavior contributes towards
plastic bag ban and how fine, characteristic of retailers and consumers affects the quantity of
plastic bags used in Islamabad and Multan despite ban.
This study used questionnaire based surveys from retailers and consumers of Islamabad Capital
Territory and Multan so as to think about the enforcement and effectiveness of plastic bag ban in
Pakistan. The study collected data from 80 consumers and 80 retailers from Islamabad and 50
consumers and 50 retailers from Multan by convenient sampling technique. A total of 260
respondents from both Islamabad and Multan have been collected. The consumer survey
contains information on consumer and household characteristics that are gender, consumer
education, consumer age, consumer income, Employed member in family and family size and
studied environmental science. The retailer survey contains information on retailer and shop
characteristics that are age, gender, income, education, awareness, nature of retail, type of shop
and type of goods sold.The study includes descriptive statistics of both consumer and retailers
and multiple regression analysis.
The study supports the argument that greater probability of being caught reduces the quantity of
plastic bags use both by consumer and retailer. Similarly it supports the argument that greater
awareness and education leads to less use of plastic bags. Further it supports that greater the
family size, greater is the use of plastic bags by consumers. And it also supports that those
consumers who have studied environmental science education or environmental education has
reduced their use of plastic bags
