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Research Proposal: Plastic Pollution

Working Title: How to Reduce the Consumption of Plastic Bottles?

Working thesis: Even though governments and global institutions have achieved a milestone in reducing environmental damage as a result of pollution, consumption of plastic bottles remains a major concern.

Research question

1)      How do we reduce the amount of plastic bottles disposed to the environment?

2)      What are the target points for creating a significant impact to the environment?

3)      What is the role of government, scholars, and civil community is controlling the use of plastic bottles?

Background

For the last one decade, the consumption of plastic bottles has significantly increased leading to quantifiable negative implications of the environment. Recent environmental reports released in 2016 indicated that 480 billion plastic bottles were sold to consumers worldwide for the period 2014-2015 9 (Bennett). Similar reports indicate that the figure was lower more than a decade ago. For instance, about 300 billion bottles were sold in 2004. This has since then worsened because today, producers and suppliers of plastic bottles sell as high as one million plastic bottles daily (Gulf News). The yearly consumption of plastic bottles is estimated to rise to as high as 583.3 billion by 2021 (Plastic Soup Foundation). Another survey conducted by Rosemary Downy together with Euromonitor revealed that China is the leading consumer of plastic bottles. While recycling and reuse of the bottles has increased today, more than 75% of plastics bottles are ending up being thrown away as litter (Ritchie and Roser). Due to increased level...