Case 4.

5: Perception of people about ban on plastic bags in Delhi

Plastic bags play an integral role in our doily life. Be it carrying groceries from the local kirana store or the storing of
household articles in a poly-bag, we never actually run out of plastic bags. The omnipresence of this utility object brought
to the fore an impending problem that needed to be resolved. The problem associated with using plastic bags is that they
are not biodegradable and in fact take close to 60 years to decompose. Apart from that, they are also the cause of various
other problems such as clogging of drain pipes and death of collies that accidentally chew on plastic bags.

This prompted the Delhi government to finally take notice and introduce a blanket ban on plastic bags in 2009. The storage
and sale of plastic bag in all places, including shops, is banned. The penalty for violating the ban, could be a fine of
₹1,00,000 or five years', imprisonment or both.

The officials empowered to enforce the ban are the staff of the health and environment department. Food and supply
officers and subdivisional magistrates are also empowered to enforce the ban.

The Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) has been assigned the task of implementation. It has formed a special
inspection team for the purpose. The team would visit manufacturing units and retail shops, and would initiate punishment
for the violators. The scope of this ban has been widened by including four-star hotels under its purview.

The imposition of this widespread ban has prompted researchers to analyse the impact and effectiveness of the ban from
the perspective of both the consumer and the vendor. They first checked whether the consumers and vendors are aware of
the ban or not. Along with that they analysed the preference, choices and willingness of the consumers and vendors from
diverse backgrounds to switch to eco-friendly alternatives so as to ascertain the effectiveness of the ban on bags.

A survey was conducted in Delhi to understand the perception of consumers about the plastic bag ban. The statements
related to the respondents perceptions are listed below:

What are your views about plastic bags since the ban? (Tick one for each answer)

Parameters Strongly Moderately Neither Moderately. Strongly

Agree (1) Agree (2) Agree Nor Disagree (4) Disagree (5)
Disagree (3)

Plastic bag is a must when buying

groceries/vegetables. (X12a)

Plastic bag is harmful for the

environment. (X12b)

I do not wish to quit using plastic bags.

(X12c)

I try to avoid plastic bags as much as I

can. (X12d)

Plastic bag ban is not enforced properly.

(X12e)

Paper bag is not a useful substitute for

plastic bag. (X 12f)

1
A sample of 44 respondents was chosen randomly. The data is presented in Table 12.11 and is also available in
SPSS/EXCEL file.in the data disk.

Questions:

1. By using a one-sample f-test, identify the parameters of the plastic bags ban on which the consumers have a favourable
opinion. (Hint: Test the null hypothesis: µ= 3 against an appropriate alternative hypothesis.)

2. Using a two-sample independent t-test, examine whether the views of the male and the female respondents are the same.

3. Divide all the respondents info two groups by taking respondents aged 30 and below as the younger respondents and
those who are 31 and above as older respondents. Now statistically examine whether the views on the ban on plastic bags
are different for the younger and older respondents.

4. Write a summary of your findings.

The case is based on a project done by IIFT students Many Pathak, Madhuri Ghosh, Navin Agarwai and Nitesh Luthrci as
a part of Business Research Methods course.