영어 에세이 : Elastic Change in Plastic Bags

 One day, I found a cloth bag in my mother's purse and asked her, “Why do you need that many shopping bags in each bag?” Then, my mom said, “Thinking about the planet, we should always carry a shopping bag.” But I thought that she probably faced an eerie situation where she probably didn't bring her shopping bag and had to pay 100 Won.

  The concept of path dependence was first established by the early work of Paul David(1985) and Brian Arthur(1989). It means that the decisions presented to people are dependent on previous decisions or experiences made in the past. Path dependence eventually leads to a 'lock-in effect', which means that the state is maintained by behavior, technology, or institution. In my mom's example, we can observe that 'behavioral lock-in' has appeared in the numerous shopping bags included in each of my mom's handbags.

 

E-mart Eco Bag

 Although not everyone has the purpose of pursuing sustainable development, it is difficult to deny the fact that a fairly rapid behavioral lock-in has occurred in shopping. Recently, the fashion of a member of the famous K-pop idol 'Brave Girls' carrying an 'E-mart Eco Bag' has become a hot topic. There are many reasons why it became a hot topic, but among them, the design of the 'E-Mart Eco Bag' clearly had a familiar influence on us.

 Assume the following situation to find out the underlying reason for the occurrence of behavioral lock-in. One day you left home to buy milk and went to the market. After buying milk, beer and snacks caught my attention. You thought it would be uncomfortable to bring it home by hand, so when you ask the cashier for a disposable bag, you were told that it was charged. In the past, you remember not paying a penny for a disposable bag, so paying 100 won was very unpleasant. When you come home, you promise to bring your shopping bag the next time you come to the market.

 We all tend to avoid loss as much as possible, which is psychologically called 'loss aversion'. When you pay the price for something you haven't paid for before, your brain may regard it as a loss. We try to avoid unpleasant situations by buying a shopping bag. Therefore, it can be seen that the policy of charging a price on a disposable bag causes behavioral lock-in. In addition, the fact that shopping carts are recyclable also contributes to the lock-in effect.

 Our behavioral lock-in stems from the institutional lock-in represented by the 'plastic bag regulation policy'. I previously mentioned that the behavioral lock-in progressed quite quickly in 2-3 years because it has been a little over two and a half years since the “plastic bag regulation policy” has come into force.

 

NT news, Turtle with Plastic

 The development of plastic bags has brought tremendous convenience to our daily lives. But sooner or later, mankind has faced a sea of plastics and billions of birds and mammals dying. With the 'London Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter, which entered into force in 1975, discussions on responding to marine waste continued, but only when the 2012, 'United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development Conference (Rio+20)' was reached, the marine waste reduction was committed, and the UN established 'Global Partnership on Marine Litters'. In 2015, the G7 Summit established the 'G7 Marine Waste Response Action Plan', and G20 agreed on the 'G20 Marine Litter Action Plan'.

 

Shutterstock, Sea with Plastic

 Furthermore, in the cases of each country, a law was enacted in New Jersey in 2018 to ban the use of disposable plastic bags entirely. The state of New Jersey should reduce the use of disposable plastic bags by 50% within one year, and after three years, all stores must provide consumers with recycled paper bags, biodegradable plastic bags (environmentally friendly plastic bags), and reusable bags only. In March 2016, the use of disposable plastic bags was completely banned in France under the 'la loi relative à la transition énergétique pour la croissance verte'.
 It feels a bit late, but our nation also enforced the law, starting with the regulation on the use of disposable plastic bags in 2016, by the 'Enforcement Rule of the Act on the Promotion of Saving and Recycling of Resources (Resource Recycling Act)' in 2019, marts, department stores, and shopping malls with a size of 165 square meters or more, the use of disposable plastic bags was completely banned.

 The reason why institutional lock-in is powerful is that there is a 'fine penalty'. Fines are the fastest way to achieve attitude fixation because they make the behavior of companies and individuals compelled. Of course, regardless of the institution, there are cases of voluntary regulation for sustainable development (even if the purpose is to improve the reputation of a company).

 However, the reason most companies and businesses have regulated disposable bags is, of course, due to a regulatory policy that imposes fines. Fewer stores use plastic bags, so consumers have no choice but to bring their shopping bags.

 Another example of lock-in is technological lock-in. Recently, the domestic convenience store CU announced that it will be the first convenience store to introduce eco-friendly bags by next year. In this case, many companies pursuing sustainable development are adopting plastic bags that use biodegradable plastic (Polylactic acid, PLA) as a material. If many companies start to adopt eco-friendly bags, research progress will accelerate, plus, function enhancement and a decrease in unit cost are expected. In addition, PLA will likely become a substitute for plastic bags due to the characteristics of modern industries with scale economies, learning effects, and network effects. However, for now, the technological lock-in that plastic bags have achieved is a huge barrier. In addition, there is a problem that the unit price is still too high and it is ineffective(such as the absence of specialized composting facilities), so there are many obstacles to overcome.

 A lot of people feel unpleasant by the change in behavior. But the surprising fact is, that behavioral lock-in keeps us from feeling uncomfortable without our recognition. Especially when the intention of the action is a moral, communal, and altruistic goal such as 'sustainable development', the effect is further maximized. I insist this fact proves the need for humanity to focus on the phenomenon of lock-in more and more. In addition, in the future, it seems that the answer to sustainable development will be to delve into the subtle links of technologies and institutions linked to human psychology and apply lock-ins effectively. We only have lifted a handful of plastic from the open sea.