Survey of the motivations of Japanese university students and staff for starting and continuing to use reusable water bottles

抄録

Recently, as part of efforts to create a circular economy for plastics, reducing the use of single-use plastics has become an important issue in Japan. In Kyoto City, the local government has set the goal of reducing the annual disposal of PET bottles by half by 2030 compared with that in 2019. Here, we examined the motivation of students and staff at Kyoto University to begin habitually using a reusable water bottle. A questionnaire was provided to 72 participants, 15 of which were selected to undergo a semi-structured interview. Outcomes were examined by using the Steps for Coding and Theorization approach (SCAT). The most common motivation for using a reusable water bottle was to reduce costs, followed by the abilities to choose the bottle volume, choose the bottle content, and maintain the bottle contents warm or cool. Only half of the respondents reported that they used a reusable water bottle for environmental reasons, meaning half of the respondents may be unwilling to refrain from using PET bottles. Some participants were found to use both PET bottles and reusable water bottles. The interviews revealed that the reasons for starting to use a reusable water bottle were different before entering university and during university. Before entering university, parents often prepared a reusable water bottle to use during lunch or after-school activities. After entering university, students often began to use reusable water bottles to reduce costs. Thus, to promote the use of reusable water bottles among Japanese university students, it may be important to highlight not only the impact on the environment but also benefits such as reducing costs.