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Changing consumer behavior to promote a clean environment
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AQUA 2019
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any people, especially the socially engaged ones living in urban settings with wide access to information, have adopted more environmentally conscious consumption habits oriented toward recycling, reusing and composting the waste that derives from their domestic consumption.
This segment of socially discerned consumers appreciates brands that demonstrate a commitment to environmental sustainability.
A more intensive public campaign, however, is needed to mainstream this kind of behavioral change to a wider public segment. Brands play a major part of this social engineering effort.
In order to accelerate the adoption of this environmentally friendly consumer behavior mode, bottled mineral water brand AQUA, which has always attempted to balance its business operations with environmental sustainability for a healthier Indonesia, has just launched its #BijakBerplastik (Mindful Plastic Use) public campaign.
#BijakBerplastik is a movement that focuses on three core aspects that are critical to tackling plastic waste issues in Indonesia, namely: product innovation, consumer education and the development of waste-collection infrastructure. The movement calls for collaboration among stakeholders of all backgrounds in innovating and scaling solutions to plastic issues in Indonesia.
Public behavioral modification is done through a slow and long process, and has to be triggered by small but steady changes in consumption patterns. AQUA seeks to trigger this change by launching its 100-percent recycled plastic bottle (with a capacity of 1.1 liters). AQUA’s new, recyclable water bottle is distinguished in its bare, stripped-down presentation without any additional plastic labels and decorations.
The brand just launched the recyclable bottled water products, primarily in Bali, and plans to continue the distribution of the recyclable products in Jakarta by the second half of 2019. Therefore, the products designed with the new recyclable bottles will be available to consumers living in Jakarta and Bali soon before AQUA launches it in different places as well.
The public can also take part in the campaign by using the #BijakBerplastik hashtag in their social media posts, encouraging people to reduce their plastic consumption, either by refilling their bottles or carrying tumblers instead.
This way, the campaign wishes to go beyond promoting AQUA’s recyclable water bottles and hopes to change consumer behavior regarding plastic use in many other related sectors, such as grocery shopping. For instance, instead of using new plastic bags to contain their grocery shopping products, consumers can consider reusing old plastic bags or buying reusable grocery bags instead.
By promoting a bigger magnitude of behavioral change among consumers in terms of plastic use among a wider group of people, AQUA also seeks to build collaborations among different segments of society in order to achieve a cleaner Indonesia through various innovative actions.
The campaign also represents the brand’s effort to keep up with the global trend of circular economies that encourage sustainability and well-rounded business management, including proper plastic waste recycling.
Simply put, the circular economy approach debunks the myths that achieving a sustainable world requires major changes in consumers’ quality of life or that it requires losses in revenues or extra costs for manufacturers and other economic agents.
Quite the contrary, through innovative product design that promotes longer durability and recyclability, the economy can still generate its multiplier effects while maintaining consumers’ quality of life and economic agents’ revenues at the same time, without requiring that any of them allocate extra costs for an environmentally friendlier life.
