While the growing ecological awareness and changing consumer demands are leading to a boom in the development and sales of more sustainable products with a reduced environmental footprint such as bioplastics, there are a few persistent misconceptions about the nature and benefits of bioplastics that need to be addressed by better information and education.
BiNa, an interdisciplinary research project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, is currently looking into the public perception of bioplastics in Germany as well as the opportunities and obstacles of communicating the properties and benefits of bioplastics. The aim of the project is to draw conclusions and recommendations on how to better communicate and inform the public in order to allow bioplastics to unfold their full potential as part of the green economy in Germany.
Julia Blesin, Research Assistant at University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Hannover, Germany
The preliminary results of the public survey and qualitative focus groups are providing a good first glance at the current public perception of bioplastics and challenges that we will have to overcome. Julia-Maria Blesin, Research Assistant at University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Hannover, a partner of the BiNa project, first presented the results at the 11th European Bioplastics Conference at the end of November in Berlin.
Low awareness and knowledge
“According to our research, more than 50 percent of the German public have not heard about bioplastics. The other half has heard about bioplastics, but the level of knowledge is rather low and shaped by misconceptions such as the raw materials for bioplastics being organically grown (in German, the word ‘bio’ means ‘organically cultivated’) or all bioplastics being biodegradable”, says Blesin and adds that “the lack of knowledge is usually paired with high expectations about the products and materials, which, in reality, can hardly be fulfilled. A lot of people we asked were surprised when we told them that not all bioplastics are biodegradable.”