EAP 5 ASSIGNMENT COVER SHEET

Name: ……………………Ta Nguyen Thao…………………………… I.D. ……23005504……………….

Class: EAP5-0923-10
Assignment: (please circle) Res. Report Lit. Review Res. Essay

Assignment Question: (write out in full)

…What are Vietnamese students’ attitudes towards plastic recycling?…………………………………….
Due date: 7/10/2023 Date submitted: 7/10/2023.

 I hold a copy of this assignment if the original is lost or damaged.

 I certify that no part of this assignment or product has been copied from any
other student’s work or from any other source except where due
acknowledgement is made in the assignment.
 I affirm that no part of this assignment/product has been written/produced for
me by any other person except where collaboration has been authorised by the
teacher concerned.
 I am aware that this work may be reproduced and submitted to plagiarism
detection software programs for the purpose of detecting possible plagiarism
(which may retain a copy on its database for future plagiarism checking).

Note: An examiner or teacher has the right to NOT mark this assignment if
the above declaration has not been signed.

Student’s Signature: Thao Date: 7/10/2023.

EXTENSION – T o be approved B E F O R E original subm ission date

Supporting evidence sighted: Yes / No Extension approved / Extension not approved

If approved, new submission date ____/____/_____ Teacher’s Signature:___________________

TA NGUYEN THAO – 22005504 – EAP5-0923-10 1

 Individual Research Report

Ta Nguyen Thao – 23005504

EAP5–0923–10

7/10/2023

Plastic recycling

What are Vietnamese students’ attitudes towards plastic recycling?

TA NGUYEN THAO – 22005504 – EAP5-0923-10 2

 Table of contents

Abstract 4

Introduction 5

Methodology 7

Results 9

Discussion 14

References 16

Appendix 17

TA NGUYEN THAO – 22005504 – EAP5-0923-10 3

 Abstract

Currently, the amount of littered plastic has been increasing significantly, thereby leading to severe

environmental issues. Therefore, it is essential to raise people’s awareness about the environment to

protect the planet from plastic pollution. The purpose of this research is to indicate the attitudes of

Vietnamese students at high schools and universities towards plastic recycling. The survey was

created through Google Forms consisting of 12 questions. The sample size was 68 participants.

Each survey taker received a survey link through online platforms and spent about 4 to 5 minutes

answering the questionnaires. The main findings of the study were that Vietnamese students are

satisfied with plastic recycling even though there are some difficulties. They have deeper

knowledge about saving the planet and try to spend their time on activities like plastic recycling.

TA NGUYEN THAO – 22005504 – EAP5-0923-10 4

 Introduction

At the present time, plastic products are gaining in popularity and they can be found anywhere. The

problem of plastic pollution becomes more serious since people produce an excessive amount of

plastic waste each year, and thus adversely affects not only the environment but also social well-

being. One approach worth mentioning is that recycling these items as much as possible can

substantially limit the plastics thrown on the planet, which can be put forward to tackle climate

change. Therefore, enhancing citizens’ awareness of plastic recycling, especially young people, is

crucial to protect the earth.

There are several previous research papers on the public's knowledge and attitudes regarding plastic

recycling. According to Oguge, Oremo, and Adhiambo (2021), the young generation in Nairobi had

an awareness of how harmful to the environment when using single-use plastics. Moreover, most

survey takers confessed their willingness to assist campaigns related to propagation and plastic

recycling. In a study conducted by Ferdous and Das (2014), it was also reported that students in

grade eight understood the importance of protecting their land from being covered by plastic items

and they had the ability to apply their knowledge in reality at a competent level, even though it was

not sufficient. Rainey (1997) examined OSU students and found that the attitudes towards

environmental issues between recyclers and non-recyclers were similar in a positive manner, and

the level of men’s behaviours on recycling was lower than their female counterparts.

Despite many findings about the awareness of plastic recycling among students in foreign countries,

Vietnamese pupils also need to be surveyed, and thus provide the national authority with helpful

information to gain more insights and invest more in environmental protection campaigns in

educational institutions. The purpose of this study was to collect and evaluate information about the

TA NGUYEN THAO – 22005504 – EAP5-0923-10 5

attitudes of students at high schools and universities in Vietnam as well as their feelings and actions

when it comes to plastic recycling. This study hypothesised that students are aware of the

importance of plastic recycling and they have a variety of ways to recycle plastic items.

TA NGUYEN THAO – 22005504 – EAP5-0923-10 6

 Methodology

The research was carried out on the 21st of September 2023 at Western Sydney University’s

offshore Vietnam campus. A group of 68 students aged between seventeen and twenty from

different educational institutions was administered questionnaires. The subjects were mostly from

the South of Vietnam. The sample was randomly selected gender to obtain objective and accurate

data, which is representative of Vietnamese students.

The survey instrument employed in this study was a questionnaire that contained a list of 14

questions including 4 demographic questions, 2 rating scale questions, and 8 close-ended questions.

It utilized Google Forms and was created by group 3 of EAP5-0923-10 class. These questions were

categorized into 3 sections: the initial part was intended to gather the personal information of

participants and the second one aimed at respondent’s habits, frequency, and purposes of plastic

recycling; students were asked about their feelings towards converting plastics into reusable items

in the last section of the survey.

Brainstorming and making a draft of questions was the first step in conducting the survey. The final

idea for questionnaires was then formed in Google Forms, which were distributed to Vietnamese

students by online platforms such as Messenger, Zalo, and Instagram in the morning. The

respondents click a survey link to be eligible to answer the questionnaires. Each survey taker took a

few minutes to complete and submit their responses. The administrators were available to assist and

elaborate on any complicated questions throughout the survey for the subjects.

All questions in this survey were designated as mandatory, ensuring comprehensive responses from

participants. The data was collated after one hour of sending out the survey link to social media

TA NGUYEN THAO – 22005504 – EAP5-0923-10 7

platforms. Finally, the gathered data was transformed into percentages and presented in chart form

for analysis.

TA NGUYEN THAO – 22005504 – EAP5-0923-10 8

 Results

Figure 1. Measures taken to recycle plastic products

The bar chart illustrates some measures that Vietnamese students chose to convert used plastic

items into new things for particular purposes and the pie chart depicts whether students think

recycling plastic items is easy or not.

TA NGUYEN THAO – 22005504 – EAP5-0923-10 9

Overall, the percentage of respondents making decorations from post-consumer plastic dominated

the categories, while the reverse pattern was witnessed in the figure for making fashionable clothes.

Moreover, the majority of students agreed that converting old plastic into new items is easy.

In the bar chart, it is apparent that the highest value belonged to making decorations, with 32% of

students choosing to recycle plastic items, followed by the figure for making containers, at 24%. In

the third position, 20% of the subjects made housewares from old plastic items, which was over

15% higher than that of making housewares. At the bottom of the list, the percentage of pupils

recycling plastics for clothing purposes accounted for 9%, standing at the bottom.

Regarding the pie chart, there was 64.7% of students who found the activity of plastic recycling

easy, which was nearly double the proportion of disagreement.

TA NGUYEN THAO – 22005504 – EAP5-0923-10 10

Figure 2. Percentage frequency of student perceptions of how often they recycle in a year

The pie chart demonstrates how frequently students in Vietnam recycle plastics in a year.

Overall, students recycling plastic products once a week had the highest proportion among the

categories, whereas the reverse pattern was registered in the figure for students who never joined to

recycle plastic items.

Regarding the highest percentage frequency, pupils recycling plastic once a week accounted for

31%. This was followed by once-monthly plastic recycling (22%), which was 3% higher than the

data for doing plastic recycling twice a month. Having a similar value, twice-monthly students and

everyday students recorded 19% and 18% correspondingly. At the bottom of the list, only 10% of

respondents never try to recycle plastics.

TA NGUYEN THAO – 22005504 – EAP5-0923-10 11

Figure 3. Interest in recycling plastic items among Vietnamese students

The third graph represents the extent to which students in Vietnam enjoy the activities of plastic

recycling. Test takers were asked to indicate their strength of feeling when doing this activity on a

five-point rating scale.

Overall, most Vietnamese students had a positive influence on recycling plastic products, although

minority students sided with the opponent.

It is clear to observe that an average score of three was chiefly rated by respondents (38.2%), which

was relatively similar to an average score of four, at 38.1% of students. Besides, 14.8% of students

assessed the highest point for plastic recycling activity, represented by a score of 5. The remaining

subjects at the bottom of the scale from 0 to 2 were respectively 1.5%, 2,9%, and 4.5%.

TA NGUYEN THAO – 22005504 – EAP5-0923-10 12

Figure 4. The reason why students want to recycle plastics

The fourth bar chart describes students’ reasons for recycling plastic items. Participants were

allowed to select one or more options of given choices.

The initial impression from the graph is that students recycling used items made of plastic to protect

the environment had the highest figure among the categories. Additionally, students recycling

plastics to save money, to entertain, and to decorate recorded similar values.

Concerning the highest figure, 83.8% of participants recycled plastic to prevent the planet from

being polluted. This was followed by the group of saving money, standing at 53%, nearly double

the data for decorating, entertaining, and saving energy purposes, with respective figures being

29.4%, 28%, and 30.8%.

TA NGUYEN THAO – 22005504 – EAP5-0923-10 13

 Discussion

The finding investigated attitudes towards plastic recycling among young people studying in high

schools and universities in Vietnam. It was hypothesised that students are aware of the importance

of plastic recycling and they have a variety of ways to recycle plastic items.

The results showed that there are different methods for students to turn post-consumer plastic into

new items, except for making fashionable clothes. One possible reason is that before plastic

products such as plastic bottles, cups and bags become clothes that people can be able to wear, they

need to go through a complicated process in factories with strict standards to change into fibres.

Therefore, this can be a difficult way for students to recycle plastic. Some students consider

recycling as an arduous activity. This can stem from the fact that they have no talent for creating

new things.

It is observed that the majority of students do recycling because they want to protect the

environment. This may result from the fact that students are disseminated enough information about

environment at educational institutions and may entirely understand how necessary it is when

recycling plastics as well as limiting the amount of plastic thrown in landfills. Additionally, most

students are likely to enjoy recycling plastic, represented by the third graph with high user ratings at

3 and 4 points (scale of 5).

While this study demonstrates the attitudes of Vietnamese students towards plastic recycling, it also

has a considerable limitation since it researches a small range of respondents in a region, with only

68 students taking the survey. Additionally, because of forming the survey in English, some

TA NGUYEN THAO – 22005504 – EAP5-0923-10 14

Vietnamese students struggled to understand the whole survey without being explained by the

researchers.

TA NGUYEN THAO – 22005504 – EAP5-0923-10 15

 References

Oguge, N, Oremo, F & Adhiambo, S 2021, ‘Investigating the knowledge and attitudes towards

plastic pollution among the youth in Nairobi, Kenya’, Social Sciences, vol. 10, no. 11, p. 408.

Ferdous, T & Das, T 2014, ‘A study about the attitude of grade eight students for the use of plastic

in Gwarko, Balkumari, Lalitpur district’, Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, vol. 116, pp.

3754–3759.

Rainey, R. C. (1997). Recycling knowledge, attitudes and behavior for on-campus and off-campus

students in organized living groups at Oregon State Univeristy.

TA NGUYEN THAO – 22005504 – EAP5-0923-10 16

 Appendix

1. What is your name?

2. What is your gender?

o Male

o Female

3. What is your age?

o <17

o 17

o 18

o 19

o 20

o >20

4. Where are you from?

o Southern Vietnam

o Central Vietnam

o Northern Vietnam

5. How often do you recycle in a year?

TA NGUYEN THAO – 22005504 – EAP5-0923-10 17

 o Everyday

o Once a week

o Once a month

o Twice a month

o Never

6. How do you recycle your used plastic products?

□ To make decorations

□ To make housewares

□ To make school stationery

□ To make fashionable clothes

7. Why do you want to recycle plastics?

□ To protect the environment

□ To save money

□ To decorate

□ To entertain

□ To save energy

8. Which plastic items do you recycle at home?

TA NGUYEN THAO – 22005504 – EAP5-0923-10 18

 □ Plastic cups/ bottles

□ Plastic boxes

□ Nylon packaging bags

□ Others

9. Where do you often use plastic products?

o At home

o At school

o In an open area

10. Are some of the plastic items that you use biodegradable?

o Yes

o No

11. Do you try to limit buying plastic items?

o Yes

o No

12. Do you ever bring your own reusable packaging bags when going to the market or

shopping mall to buy things?

o Yes

o No

13. On a scale of 1 to 5, how important is it to recycle plastic items?

 Linear scale: 1=>5

14. On a scale of 1 to 5, how interested are you in recycling plastic products?

 Linear scale: 1=>5

TA NGUYEN THAO – 22005504 – EAP5-0923-10 19

TA NGUYEN THAO – 22005504 – EAP5-0923-10 20
TA NGUYEN THAO – 22005504 – EAP5-0923-10 21
TA NGUYEN THAO – 22005504 – EAP5-0923-10 22