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'Windows of opportunity' - exploring the relationship between social media and plastic policies during the COVID-19 Pandemic1.07 MB
Published VersionCC BY V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
'Windows of opportunity': exploring the relationship between social media and plastic policies during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Policy Sciences, Vol.55(4), pp.737-753
2022
PMID: 36405102
Appears in COVID-19 Research
Abstract
Plastic pollution has reached a crisis point due to ineffective waste management, an over-reliance on single-use plastic items and a lack of suitable plastic alternatives. The COVID-19 Pandemic has seen a dramatic increase in the use of single-use plastics including 'COVID waste' in the form of items specifically intended to help stop the spread of disease. Many governments have utilised COVID-19 as a window of opportunity to reverse, postpone or remove plastic policies off agendas ostensibly in order to 'flatten the curve' of COVID-19 cases. In this paper, we use novel methods of social media analysis relating to three regions (USA, Mexico and Australia) to suggest that health and hygiene were not the only reasons governments utilised this window of opportunity to change plastic policies. Beyond the influence of social media on the plastics agenda, our results highlight the potential of social media as a tool to analyse public reactions to government decisions that can be influenced by industry pressure and a broader political agenda, while not necessarily following responses to consumer behaviour.
Details
- Title
- 'Windows of opportunity': exploring the relationship between social media and plastic policies during the COVID-19 Pandemic
- Authors
- Joanna Vince (Corresponding Author) - University of TasmaniaEstelle Praet (Author) - University of YorkJohn Schofield (Author) - University of YorkKathy Townsend (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and Engineering
- Publication details
- Policy Sciences, Vol.55(4), pp.737-753
- Publisher
- Springer New York LLC
- Date published
- 2022
- DOI
- 10.1007/s11077-022-09479-x
- ISSN
- 1573-0891; 0032-2687
- PMID
- 36405102
- Copyright note
- This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
- Organisation Unit
- School of Science, Technology and Engineering
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 99695748402621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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- Domestic collaboration
- International collaboration
- Web Of Science research areas
- Public Administration
- Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary
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