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Review of 'Influences on single-use and reusable cup use: a multidisciplinary mixed-methods approach to designing interventions reducing plastic waste'

Reviewer: Elizaveta Novoradovskaya

Inviter role(s): EDITOR

Publication date of review: 2021-05-03

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Elizaveta Novoradovskaya4

Influences on single-use and reusable cup use: a multidisciplinary mixed-methods approach to designing interventions reducing plastic wasteCrossref ScienceOpen

The article addresses an important issue using evidence-based approach

Average rating:	    Rated 4 of 5.
Level of importance:	    Rated 5 of 5.
Level of validity:	    Rated 3 of 5.
Level of completeness:	    Rated 3 of 5.
Level of comprehensibility:	    Rated 4 of 5.
Competing interests:	None

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Influences on single-use and reusable cup use: a multidisciplinary mixed-methods approach to designing interventions reducing plastic waste

Ayşe Lisa Allison, Fabiana Lorencatto, Susan Michie … (2020)

Background : An estimated 2.5-5 billion single-use coffee cups are disposed of annually in the UK, most of which consist of a plastic lining. Due to the difficulty of recycling poly-coated material, most of these cups end up as litter or in landfill. As hot beverage consumption is a consumer behaviour, behaviour change interventions are necessary to reduce the environmental impacts of single-use coffee cup waste. Basing the design of interventions on a theoretical understanding of behaviour increases transparency of the development process, the likelihood that the desired changes in behaviour will occur and the potential to synthesise findings across studies. Aim: The present paper presents a methodology for identifying influences on using single-use use and reusable cups as a basis for designing intervention strategies. Method and application : An online survey and follow-up interviews were developed by a multi-disciplinary group of practitioners, health psychologists, material scientists, behavioural scientists and catering staff. They used two behaviour change frameworks: The Theoretical Domains Framework and Capability-Opportunity-Motivation-Behaviour model of behaviour. Research findings can inform selection of intervention strategies using a third framework, the Behaviour Change Wheel. The application of the methodology is illustrated in relation the setting of a university campus. Conclusions : We have developed a detailed method for identifying behavioural influences relevant to pro-environmental behaviours, together with practical guidance for each step and a worked example.

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Review information

DOI:: 10.14293/S2199-1006.1.SOR-SOCSCI.AXJJSK.v1.RZSUUI

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This work has been published open access under Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Conditions, terms of use and publishing policy can be found at www.scienceopen.com.

Keywords: behaviour change,circular economy,plastic waste,single-use,COM-B,intervention,reusable,The Environment,coffee cups,Behaviour Change Wheel,Sustainable development,influences

Review text

The article addresses an imporant and under-explored issue of eradicating single-use cups using theoretical framework of behaviour change. As there is not much literature on this particular behaviour, and none - to my knowledge - of the application of the Behaviour Change Wheel theory to it, it has a potential to contribute to the field significantly. At this stage, this is a protocol of a mixed-methods study.

It would be beneficial to expand the literature review to elaborate more on two areas:

a) Include the research on previous efforts made to increase the use of reusable cups, for instance, the two behaviour change interventions, published recently:

- Poortinga, W., & Whitaker, L. (2018). Promoting the use of reusable coffee cups through environmental messaging, the provision of alternatives and financial incentives. Sustainability, 10(3), 873.

- Novoradovskaya, E., Mullan, B., Hasking, P., & Uren, H. V. (2021). My cup of tea: Behaviour change intervention to promote use of reusable hot drink cups. Journal of Cleaner Production, 284, 124675.

b) Elaborate on the theories referred to in the introduction, COM-B, TDF and BCW. It is important to reflect why these three models were chosen, how they demonstrated effectiveness previously, and provide some examples of specific components of the frameworks, not just descriptions. It would also be beneficial to elaborate further on how COM-B and TDF line up with BCW, as it is not particularly clear.

It is also important to clarify the aims of the research. For example, in "What are the influences on single-use and reusable cup use?" it is unclear as to what exactly 'influences' refer to. There is potnetial to formulate hypotheses for the survey part of the findings.

In Methods I was wondering about details of the conducted power analysis, e.g., for which statistical test was it conducted?

Regarding the Survey: it may be needed to insert another question as the very first one or as an inclusion criterion for the study, whether the participant consumes takeaway hot drinks at all. There is a risk to end up with skewed data if those who do not drink takeaway hot drinks would be completing the survey and it is not controlled for.

In the Procedure section it is unclear how exactly the participants would be selected: randomly or using a certain strategy?

I am very excited to read this paper once the data can be obtained!

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Version and Review History

Published Version

Preprint version 2

Reviewed by Elizaveta Novoradovskaya Reviewed by Dario Cottafava

Preprint version 1

Reviewed by Elizaveta Novoradovskaya Reviewed by Dario Cottafava