Secondary Research And Research Framework

Based on my research plastic is doomed to affect the environment. From extraction to creating the plastic pellets it creates a lot of air pollution, affects the health of the people working there, sometimes the labors are also exploited and there is also water pollution. On top of that a lot of energy is also needed to produce plastic bottles and it's not an easy process. (7 Ways Oil And Gas Drilling Is Bad For The Environment., 2019), (Life Of A Plastic Bottle., 2017), (The World Counts. n.d).

To start my research I went on looking for alternatives of plastic and then I found this article about 5 sustainable alternatives to plastic (Welle, D., 2020.). It was then that I got introduced to bioplastic

the article is about 5 bioplastic made from Olive Pits, Sunflower Hulls, Fish waste and Algae, Plant sugar, Mushroom which are totally biodegradable and compostable.

I wanted to get more details on the bioplastic mentioned so I searched and found articles about the fishwaste (UK designer invents plastic made with fish., 2019.), the mushroom (Mushroom... The New Plastic?, 2014) and the olive pits (Bioplastic Made from Olives, 2019) bioplastics. Unlike what I expected I did not get much more info on them but only got to see them in video or how they look better. However, while researching I also found someone who made bioplastic out of orange peel and said that her bioplastic can be poured into molds thanks to its density, it can be printed on with digital printers, it takes very well the textures on which it is laid, it can be thermoformed and laser cut (Taccola, G., 2020.). My classmate Dhanesha also told me about Shellworks who do bioplastic with seashells who’s bioplastic also seems to have great potentials (Hitti, N., 2019.).

I also found this small video on how to turn watermelon peel into bioplastic at home using only 5 ingredients. When I found this I thought it could be something useful for both my infographic and my artefact for part 2. (Ong SK 1984., 2018.)

Afterwards I was introduced to a lot of other short videos on how to make bioplastic at home with orange peels and coffee (Sperim Design., 2018.) and also using corn starch (ScienceLuxembourg., 2016.)

I also found a Ted talk about bioplastic which gave me a better insight of what bioplastic is. The video talked about how bioplastic has a lot of potential but it is not well known and easy to get for consumers. The video also mentioned that there is already a plan on how we can make bioplastic more sustainable and available but this depends on consumers, if we consumers will be able to become mindful and support bioplastic then a campaign to make bioplastic more available and help sponsor research for better bioplastic will be possible (Tan, V., 2020.). I also found another video titled “Can Bioplastics Ever Compete” which talked about the same thing (ThinkBioplastic., 2019.).

Research Framework

Objective

To investigate how willing will people be to live an alternative life to reduce pollution in our environment

Research Question

· What do people think of bio plastic

· Are people concerned about plastic pollution and would like to make a change

· How much are people willing to endure to live in a “plastic-less” world

· Would people be willing to buy bio plastic which may be more expensive than plastic just to

stop plastic pollution

· Do people believe that a “plastic-less” world is possible

I am aiming to get more open ended questions where I could get both qualitative and quantitative data and because I also want to know what people think. And I want to target a wide audience where I will be able to know what people from other countries also think. I plan on using social medias to share an online survey for my primary research.

Survey questions

· How much do people know about the issue of pollution

· How much do people care

· How are the things people do to avoid polluting

· How much people are willing to sacrifice to stop pollution

· Do people know about bio products

· Do people think that Bio products are going to be useful

· Would people be willing to pay more to buy more eco friendly products

· How much more are they willing to pay

· Do they think that a world without plastic will be convenient/comfortable

· Do they know what it means to have to plastic at all in the world

· Do people think that one day we can live in a world without pollution

Bibliography

Hitti, N. (2019). Shellworks turns discarded lobster shells into recyclable bioplastic objects. Retrieved 8 November 2020, from https://www.dezeen.com/2019/02/22/shellworks-bioplastic-lobster-shell-design/

Material Insight: Bioplastic Made from Olives // Material ConneXion. (2019). Retrieved 8 November 2020, from https://materialconnexion.com/material-insight-bioplastic/#:~:text=Bio%2DPura%2C%20the%20Bioplastic%20that's,as%20an%20alternative%20for%20plastic.&text=While%20it%20takes%20450%20years,plastic%20decomposes%20within%201%20year

Ong SK 1984. (2018). ALP project - Bio plastic from watermelon rinds [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ql9J84zmMAU

PepsiCo Recycling, 2017. Life Of A Plastic Bottle. [video] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erGnf7ws20E&feature=youtu.be> [Accessed 13 November 2017].

ScienceLuxembourg. (2016). Make bioplastic by yourself! [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cqg-QpaF1lk

Sperim Design. (2018). DIY bioplastics from orange peels and ground coffee [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrUjjzznwEE

Taccola, G., 2020. Behance. [online] Behance.net. Available at: https://www.behance.net/gallery/35475565/ALCHIMIA?tracking_source=search_projects_recommended%7CBiodegradable [Accessed 17 September 2020].

Tan, V. (2020). Are Bio-plastics a Sustainable Solution? | Vivian Tan | TEDxAbbotsford [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kjb7AlYOSgo

The Wilderness Society. 2019. 7 Ways Oil And Gas Drilling Is Bad For The Environment. [online] Available at: <https://www.wilderness.org/articles/blog/7-ways-oil-and-gas-drilling-bad-environment#> [Accessed 9 August 2019].

Theworldcounts.com. n.d. The World Counts. [online] Available at: <https://www.theworldcounts.com/stories/pollution-from-plastic>.

ThinkBioplastic. (2019). Can Bioplastics Ever Compete? | Our Plastic Predicament: Episode 8 [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttcZdA0nP0k

TRT World. (2019). UK designer invents plastic made with fish | Money Talks [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaEanR3CSaM

University of San Francisco. (2014). Mushroom... The New Plastic? [news] [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRnJeNurdEY

Welle, D. (2020). 5 Sustainable Alternatives to Plastics. Retrieved 8 November 2020, from https://www.ecowatch.com/5-sustainable-alternatives-to-plastics-2645932261.html?rebelltitem=6#rebelltitem6