A groundbreaking study published in Science this week highlights the power of \"green nudges\" in reducing plastic waste from food delivery services in China. By adjusting default options and incentivizing sustainable choices, the research found a significant decrease in the demand for disposable plastic cutlery.
The study demonstrated that making \"no cutlery\" the default option and rewarding customers with points for opting out led to a 648% increase in orders without cutlery. The researchers estimate that implementing these small nudges nationwide could eliminate over 20 billion sets of plastic cutlery and prevent millions of metric tons of plastic waste each year.
Albert Park, chief economist at the Asian Development Bank and co-author of the study, discussed the broader implications of this research in an interview with CGTN's Guan Xin.
Reference(s):
Study: Green nudges reduce plastic waste from food deliveries in China
cgtn.com
