Recycling Plastic Wastes in UK Supermarkets for Environmental Sustainability

RECYCLING PLASTIC WASTES IN
SUPERMARKETS OF UK TO REGULATE
ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my special thanks and gratitude to my professors for providing me the
guidance and support while completing the project. They have given me the golden opportunity
to do this wonderful project on the topic recycling plastic wastes in supermarkets of UK to
regulate environmental sustainability, which also helped me in doing a lot of research. this assists
me in knowing various new things. Secondly I would also like to thank my friends who helped
me a lot in finishing this project within limited time period. This project helped me in enhancing
my knowledge and skills in greater manner.
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Table of Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.............................................................................................................2
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................4
Research rational.........................................................................................................................4
Research question........................................................................................................................5
Research aim................................................................................................................................5
Research objective.......................................................................................................................5
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.........................................................................................6
2.1 Environmental sustainability and its importance...................................................................6
2.2 Causes of degrading environmental sustainability................................................................7
2.3 Impact of plastic usage in supermarkets on environmental sustainability............................8
2.4 Influence of plastic recycling in UK supermarkets on environmental sustainability............9
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY...........................................................................11
CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS, DISCUSSION & ANALYSIS ..........................................................14
Findings.........................................................................................................................................14
Discussion......................................................................................................................................15
Analysis.........................................................................................................................................16
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATIONS .......................................................17
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................20
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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
Environment sustainability is a process of converting natural resources in such a manner that
it can protect global ecosystem of the world. It helps in supporting or protecting the health and
wealth of the living things so that present requirement can be fulfilled by keeping in mind future
needs and wants. There are three pillars of sustainability which is economic, social,
environmental sustainability. The economical pillar denotes the profit that can be earned by
business or communities, social denotes people life which can be made healthier and the last
environmental pillar focuses on planet which can be save by using resources in effective manner.
Environmental sustainability can be attained by various methods such as using renewable
energy, reuse and recycling metal or plastic, crop rotation and many more (Lai and Lee, 2022).
In recent time the threat of sustaining the environment is becoming the major concern and
measures should be taken effectively to combat with such major issue. The main reason behind
degrading environmental quality are global warming, climate change, increase use of plastic, rise
in pollution etc. One of the important advantage of environmental sustainability is improving the
human life by reducing the strain on earth support system. It helps in establishing the relationship
between reducing the use of plastic and providing environmental sustainability. This will assist
in providing more energy and resources so that proper utilisation can be made. Therefore, this
study will be highlighting the causes of environmental sustainability which create threat and hoe
the use of plastic negatively impact on the environment. The major area to study the role of
recycling plastic is UK supermarkets (Marrucci, Marchi and Daddi, 2020).
Research rational
The major reason behind conducting this investigation is to know the factor which
threatened environmental sustainability in greater sense. The problem to enhance the
sustainability is behaviour of mankind towards the nature and resources. Human behaviour
impact a lot and they disrupted the ecosystem in wide manner. There act depletes the natural
resources and enhance the global warming on the earth. One of the vital action of them is usage
of plastic which significantly contributes in the rise of environmental issues. The use of plastic is
very hazardous for the nature because it takes thousand years to decompose in the soil. This also
decrease the quality of soil which disturb the food chain. With their use carbon footprints
increases which release toxic gases that impact the oxygen level. In one of the report by national
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geographical it is stated that only 9 percent of the total plastic is being recycled and degrade.
This results in enhancing air pollution, global warming and scarcity of resources.
Another reason for choosing this research is to know the impact of plastic bag which is used
by the supermarket stores of UK. According to one of the report published by Environmental
Investigation Agency and Greenpeace (EIAG), around 1.2 billion single handed plastic bags is
being produced by this sector. This means that 896853 tomes of plastic waste is done by retail
sector. Therefore, the investigation will be focusing on bridging the gap of environmental
sustainability by accurately adopting the measures (Alabi and et. al., 2019).
Research question
Main questions:
How plastic recycling in UK supermarket influences environmental sustainability?
Sub questions:
1) What are the causes of degrading environmental sustainability?
2) What are impact of plastic usage in supermarkets on environmental sustainability?
3) What is the influence of plastic recycling in UK supermarkets on environmental
sustainability?
Research aim
To establish a relationship between recycling plastic in UK Supermarkets and overcoming
threatening environmental sustainability.
Research objective
 To analyse causes of degrading environment sustainability.
 To study the impact of plastic usage in supermarkets on environmental sustainability.
 To evaluate the influence of plastic recycling in UK supermarkets on environmental
sustainability.
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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter is one of the important part of the whole investigation. In this section
information that is contain is from various past publish sources. Secondary information is there
which helps the investigator to gain more knowledge regarding the topic. This part is also used to
gain more insight show the acquired skills can be utilised in real life. Research gap is also being
found out by the past research and current investigation.
2.1 Environmental sustainability and its importance
As per the view of Vanapalli and et. al (2021), environmental sustainability is one of the
important concept in 21 centuries. Environmental sustainability is the process of using natural
resources in such a way that current need can be fulfilled by keeping in mind the future needs
and wants. It is the capacity between the earth biosphere and human civilization. Sustainably of
the nature mainly depends upon the human action. In recent time were competition is very high it
is becoming a major threat to maintain environmental sustainability. Effective environmental
measure need to be taken so that sustainable environment can be made. Some of their activities
that disturb the nature is land disturbance, over population, air and water pollution, hazardous
chemical, plastic wastage, using non-biodegradable waste and many more. This all imbalance the
ecosystem and biodiversity of earth in greater sense. One of the major issue of techno centrism
approach, were a wide variety of technological advancement is taking place. This contributes in
rising the major concern for environmental sustainability. There are three pillars of sustainability
which are as follow:
 Economic sustainability: This pillar is majorly responsible for profit of the business and
organisation. It is the major duty of the companies to manage their resources in such a
manner that proper allocation and utilisation can be made. This helps them to minimise
the cost of production and enhancing their profit in day to day operations.
 Social sustainability: This sustainability has the direct impact on the people. In this all
those measures should be adopted which can make the life of mankind healthier. This
will aid them to spend less amount on their health care if healthy air can be acquired.
Water, air, land is necessary for the people if this can be get in sound manner then they
can live a healthy and wealthy life.
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