A Campaign Plan for Biodegradable Bags for Household Waste

Millions of used plastics are discarded outside of landfills, with a significant environmental effect.
Thousands of dolphins, whales, and marine mammals are killed each year after eating discarded plastic bags that they mistake for food; once eaten, the bags obstruct intestines, resulting in an agonizing death.
Per year, approximately 8 billion pounds of plastics join the waste stream, placing a strain on landfill capacity. A variety of environmental effects can be seen if not monitored. The use of plastic bags is a common phenomenon all over the world due to their affordability and ease to carry around. Currently, over one billion plastic bags are distributed every week to collect garbage. In 2001, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the United States estimated that the consumption of plastic sacks, bags, and wraps are between 500 billion and trillion every year (Cleanup.org. 2017). The disposal of the bags affects the wildlife as well as the landfill space. Approximately 8 billion pounds of plastics enter the waste stream each year, putting burden on the existing space, thus, leading to air pollution when incineration if considered (Cleanup.org. 2017). The EARTH PLANET is, therefore, determined to campaign on the utilization of biodegradable bags for waste collection in Australia in order to improve the state of the environment.

Due to the environmental challenges associated with plastic bags, the campaign is aimed at considering an alternative approach to garbage collection which is more economical and sustainable. One of the impacts of the campaign would involve cheap production process through the use of less energy (Xing, 2009). The alternative bags must also be non-toxic; when released to the environment, they should easily breakdown and not release any form of toxins or chemicals. The organization also considers an alternative that is environmentally friendly in order to protect the wildlife that has been affected in the past by plastics.

The main focus of the campaign is to introduce biodegradable bags in the market to collect household waste. This alternative is made from fiber which can be recycled and used longer. A key reason for considering biodegradable bags is the fact that they can easily decompose even when disposed in the natural environment (Xing 2009, p. 22). Similarly, households will be able to use the same waste in the bags for agricultural purposes due to the organic nature.

The campaign is believed to aid in the reduction of any possible environmental pollution, and as such will improve the health and wellbeing of the residents of the country.













Having a partnership with the government is important as it can contribute to the campaign financially by funding the production biodegradable bag production and distribution processes.









Situational Analysis

The implementation of the plan will involve maximization of existing organizational factors to enhance efficiency and effectiveness of the alternative. Raw materials to process biodegradable bags are readily available. Both wood and cornstarch are inexpensive resources that have been used for production, since corn is used as food, waste corn, wood piece from mills, and waste wood pulp can be relevant for production. The current partnership with the government will also help the organization successfully implement the plan. After a series of consultation with the county governments, it became clear that the current disposal system of plastic wastes is very expensive. The organization has an alliance with the private companies that have been producing the recommended bags. Due to their expertise and experience, the organization will consider giving them the first distribution tender.

The organization further identified environmental forces that will help in plan adoption. There is sufficient technology that will be used in the production of the biodegradable bags. Depending on the type of material used to produce the bags, different technologies are needed (Moore 2008, p. 1). In the case of polymers synthesis, there is need of chemicals or sugars for fermentation. In the case of corn, there is need for extraction of lactic acid from the waste corn as well as purification to break doe n the corn into simple sugars. These processes as well as fermentation would need technologies which already exist (Moore 2008, p. 2). The natural factor that contributes to the plan is the availability of the renewable raw materials. Corn can easily be planted in the area since the land is fertile and the climate supports the growth of the grain crop. Furthermore, the legal and political environment equally supports the campaign. Apart from the support from the government, the national constitution advocates for a safe and clean environment which can only be achieved with renewable resources. As such, advocating for biodegradable bags would be one way of improving the status of the environment as well as the wellbeing of the country residents.







PLANET EARTH has considered the use of corn for the production of the biodegradable bags since they are easily available in the natural environment.













It is possible companies and some of the residents will oppose the campaign for the fear of losing employment and business ventures.





However, the threats that the campaign would face is from the cultural and economic aspects of the community. The country’s culture has always been the use of plastic bags; changing their perceptions towards using a different approach to garbage collection will present a great challenge. The organization believes there will be resistance of the campaign at first, especially among those people who imagine the new process will be expensing. Additionally, economic threats would challenge the initiative. More than 200 companies currently produce plastic bags and have recruited thousands of people (Derraik 2002, p. 15). The distributors of the bags would also feel aggrieved since they would no longer supply such products. It is, thus, expected that direct resistance or petition against the campaign will be filed to the courts in the near future for causing economic downturn.

The target audience













Victoria had implemented the Plastic Ban Act























These objectives are aimed at ensuring that every household in Australia adopt the use of biodegradable bags.















The main target of the campaign is the Australian residents who rely on plastic bags every day to collect their garbage. The Nolan ITU Report suggested that Australian households have been using more than 5 billion plastic bags each year; out of this, 7,150 recyclable bags every minute (Cleanup.org. 2017). Since the residents generate wastes every single day, it is usual they are the largest consumers of these bags. The whole country, except Victoria which recently banned plastic use, is currently using non-biodegradable plastics to collect waste. Thus, it was important to consider all the Australian households the key target audience of the campaign. Another target group for the campaign is the Congress who has the legislative role. The campaign plans to propose a bill of anti-plastic usage in order to make it mandatory for compliance. With a clearly outlined law that bans the use of plastics, there will be success in the implementation of the alternative garbage collection technique.

Objectives and target goals

The key objectives of the organization include:

To adopt the use of biodegradable bags for waste collection

To educate the public about the sustainable impacts of the introduced garbage collection bags

To introduce total zero tolerance of plastic bags for garbage collection in Australia

































The charge of each bag is a bit expensive; the price of a small size bag is equivalent to the prize of a loaf of bread.













In order to achieve the above objectives, the formulated goals for the campaign are:

To distribute 5 biodegradable bags with capacities of 10 kg to every household every month.

To hold weekly seminars in every County to highlight biodegradable bags awareness.

To use social media platforms and news media to inform the public about the sustainability of the alternative product

Target audience barriers, benefits, competition, and influential others

The organization has identified barriers, benefits, competition, and influential others that may be presented in the adoption of the biodegradable bags.

Barriers

The cost of the biodegradable may be expensive to some of the households

The usage of the new technique has limited choices; such bags only come in 3 different sizes which is limiting to consumers

Another challenge is the concerns of the life span of the bags. Studies show that the current biodegradable bags do not degrade completely after subjected to composition (Derraik 2002, p. 11).

The production of the biodegradable bags is very low in the country which might affect the implementation process at the initiation stage.

The current global production of biodegradable bags is about 350,000 tons which is less than 0.3% of the unsustainable plastic production (Derraik 2002, p. 13).



Unlike the previous production process of plastic bags, all stakeholders will be involved in the dissemination of information including government actors, consumers, and producers.



















The charge of each bag is a bit expensive; the price of a small size bag is equivalent to the prize of a loaf of bread.













Key benefits

The benefits that the Australian people would witness from the campaign include:

The excise duty generated from the purchase of the bags will be used for environmental cleanup and in the production of other alternative products like sisal bags (Derraik 2002, p. 15)

The residents will participate in the manufacturing of the newly introduced bags through supply of war materials and in distribution; this will increase their income.

There will be free supply of the biodegradable bags by the households during the initial stage of implementation

Competition

The great competition of the current proposed alternative to garbage collection is the usual plastic bags that the people use. Since the ban will not take immediate effect, it is predicted that majority of the households would still rely on the plastics. The target audience will definitely opt for the non-biodegradable plastics due to their availability and friendly costs. Plastic bags can be found everywhere in the streets and shops, and as such can promote their usage (Rosenthal, 2008). The costs that the people may associate with these bags is the environmental impacts, although some of them still believe that the impacts are not alarming due to the clean Australian environment.











The Australian public always addresses their concerns through the governors and members of parliament who represent them.





This message will be delivered by the organizational marketing team who will conduct seminars every week as well as media platforms and major television channels that the Australian people prefer viewing (Rosenthal 2008, p. 3).







Influential others

The main influential actors of the campaign are the County representatives who have direct contact with the residents. If this group supports the campaign, then the residents will also accept the change. Currently, the county governments are approving the campaign, and as such, the organization believes there will a successful process.

The positioning statement

We want the Australian households to see biodegradable garbage collection bags as sustainable and as more important and beneficial than plastic bags.

Promotion

The key messages that will be included in the campaign will be concerning the effects of plastic bags on the environment and how it has resulted in the loss of aquatic and wildlife. The audience will also be highlighted on the biodegradable bags, their costs, long term use, and possible environmental benefits. The adopted creative strategies for information dissemination will be posters which will be pinned in different seminar areas as well as public facilities such as gymnasiums, colleges, churches, and classrooms. In the case of media platforms, visuals showing the impacts of plastic bans as well as the proposed attractive colored biodegradable materials will be shown to the public.

Evaluation and Monitoring

Evaluation is important to view the progress of the particular campaign strategy. The organization will be able to determine whether the new alternative for garbage collection is effective in controlling environmental pollution and if the residents prefer the usage. The techniques that would be used for evaluation and monitoring include feedbacks as well as survey forms. Feedback involves the presentation of views on the new bags usage by the residents. Surveys, on the other hand, would include assessing the number of biodegradable bags used before and after the campaign (Rosenthal 2008, p. 4). These activities will be conducted after 3 months of the initiation stage, with an approximate cost of one million dollars.

Implementation plan phases

The major phases of the campaign will include:

Phase 1: Holding seminars to educate the public about biodegradable bags. This will involve the public as well as the organizational leaders the approximated cost of this phase would be approximately 2 million dollars.

Phase 2: Distribution of posters and advertisement in media platforms. The activities will be done by the marketing team and the television channels. The approximated cost for this activity is 1.5 million dollars.

Phase 3: Consulting with the stakeholders including the government and private firms. This will be conducted by the organizational management team over a period of 2 weeks. The cost of this will be 300,000 dollars.

Phase 4: implementing the project through distribution of bags. This will take three months, although the distribution will be done on a monthly basis with each household given 5 bags. The cost of this is expected to be 250 million dollars

Phase 5: Monitoring and evaluation of the project. The activities will be carried out by the organizational monitoring team over a period of 2 months. The cost is approximated to be 1 million dollars.





References

Cleanup.org. (2017). Plastic as a resource: what is the problem. Retrieved from http://www.cleanup.org.au/au/Campaigns/plastic-bag-facts.html

Derraik, J. G., (2002). The pollution of the marine environment by plastic debris: a review. Marine pollution bulletin, 44(9), 842-852.

Moore, C. J., (2008). Synthetic polymers in the marine environment: a rapidly increasing, long-term threat. Environmental research, 108(2), 131-139.

Rosenthal, E., (2008). Motivated by a tax, irish spurn plastic bags. New York Times, 2.

Xing, X., (2009). Study on the ban on free plastic bags in China. Journal of Sustainable Development, 2(1), 156.