Blog 2: Culture

Hi guys! Welcome back to my blog!

Today I will be focusing on cultural aspects in regards to the PlasTech Venture project.

1. Give three compelling examples of how cultural issues affect your project?

First, Filipinos have a culture of purchasing everyday household essentials that are in the form of sachets. Sachets are single-use packages that contain a small amount of commercial good that is usually used up moments after opening the package(e.g. ketchup packages from McDonald). Many commercial stores in the US use sachets as a means of providing free samples for customers to try. A large majority of Filipinos live in poverty and do not have the money to make a down payment for the bulk quantity in order to feed their family. The heavy reliance on sachets poses a huge threat to our recycling efforts because sachets are hard to recycle. The combination of metal and plastic in sachets makes it extremely difficult to separate both materials to be recycled.

Second, Filipinos have a cultural preference for using virgin plastic over-processed plastic. Filipinos have a greater trust towards newly created plastic over old plastic. With our current technologies, creating virgin plastic is also cheaper. As a result, businesses are more interested in new plastic. The preference of new plastic over recycled plastic poses the issue of creating more non-degradable plastic waste in the environment. 

Third, the difference in culture between America and the Philippines will affect the PlasTech project. The PlasTech Venture is tasked with creating a “value-added” product made out of recycled material. A value-added product for Americans may not be valuable to Filipinos. Identifying and understanding the cultural difference is crucial.

 

2. Have you experienced or observed any of these social situations at home? Describe at least three such situations.

The US does not have as big of a recycling issue regarding sachets. Americans typically purchase everyday essential products in the form of large plastic bottles that can last for 2 months or more. These bottles also come in the form of plastic, which makes recycling much easier compared to sachets. Unfortunately, the US does experience some issues with recycling sachet due to food take outs, traveling, and providing samples to consumers. Similarly, Americans also have a preference for new plastic over recycled plastics due to cost efficiency. However, there is a growing movement in the US where using recycled material in products is becoming a way of marketing and attracting customers. Some containers that store snacks promote the fact that their containers are made from recycled materials. A difference in culture between the US and the Philippines can be seen in the habit of recycling aluminum cans. The US has an advantage in the sense that the government’s policy of returning five cents per aluminum can provide an incentive to recycle. Unlike the US, the Philippines ’ government is not providing incentives towards recycling which makes recycling much more challenging.

 

3. Give three examples of cultural practices that can be leveraged to address community/market problems.

One cultural practice that can be leveraged to address community/market problem is introducing the concept of no/minimal packaging. Customers would simply go fill up the essential everyday product in a jar they bring from home and get charged by how much the content inside the jar weighs. This concept eliminates a large amount of plastic that enters the environment and also helps businesses save money from not having to produce the plastic. Such a system is extremely hard to implement because it requires a cultural change. A downside to this system is the risk of vendors selling fake products to consumers since the goods would no longer be in an air-sealed container. 

Another cultural practice that can be implemented is providing the Philippines some sort of incentive to collect plastic. This can be in the form of trading something of value for plastics that are turned in. For example, if someone cashed in ten ponds of plastic, the junk shop would provide a building material such as a beam made out of plastic. This system keeps plastics from entering the landfill and recycles the plastic at the same time. If another plastic object is undesirable, the junk shop can eve offer coupons to other stores. Coupon marketing would become another market that PlasTech could tap into. 

A third cultural practice that can be implemented is to create and sell products that Filipinos would eventually bond with and not throw away. A good example of such products is plates and bowls. Plates and bowls are meant to be utilized for a long period of time. During the time it stays in a home, there are many bonding opportunities between the owner and the dishwares. Through this cultural practice, hopefully, the owner will come to value the dishware and change their perception of plastics. In the best-case scenario, the amount of plastic that would end up in the landfill would decrease due to the changed perception of the plastic’s worth.

 

Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you next week 🙂

One thought on “Blog 2: Culture

  1. Nice work! The cultural preference for virgin plastic over recycled is very interesting, and I’m curious to see what your team comes up with to overcome this.

Leave a Reply