Circular Economy in India: A Bayesian belief network analysis of household purchasing and disposal behaviour of plastics

In India, nearly 5 Mt of plastic waste is thrown out every year, averaging around 11 kg per person. Adopting circular economy could help India reduce its plastic waste problems. This study focuses on understanding the factors that affect people’s plastic purchasing and disposal behaviour. We applied Social Practice Theory to help understand people’s plastic waste management behaviour and the factors that affect what people do. Our findings suggest that the type of Material suitable for reducing plastic waste include infrastructure and services that deal with plastic waste segregation at the source, and tokens or money refund for waste returned to aggregators. Improving household Competence should rely on increasing knowledge around how to segregate, recycle, and return waste. For Meaning, messages need to aim at demonstrating social and environmental benefits of plastic waste reduction, and the positive aspects of waste segregation to remove this social stigma attached to waste handling.