世論 What Japan Thinks

One nice thing (from a shopping, not environmental point of view) in Japan is that many department stores give you a nice simple paper bag with handles for your purchases; not the cheap thin brown paper supermarket bags as seen in the US, but a decent reusable one. Brand stores and posh cake shops also give away better quality paper bags, so to see what happens when they get taken home, iShare looked at reuse of paper bags.

Demographics

Between the 8th and 11th of August 2009 586 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 56.7% of the sample were male, 34.3% in their twenties, 31.1% in their thirties, and 34.6% in their forties.

We have a huge amount of paper bags stocked up, probably a few hundred, although we do reuse about one per month for either just as a container when taking things to the monther-in-law, or as a posh wrapper for a cheap souvenir to friends.

Interestingly, there’s a second-hand handbag and other branded item shop that regularly advertises in a local free paper that offers a few hundred yen per Gucci or Chanel paper bag that you might want to bring along.

Research results

Q1: When you get a paper bag when shopping, do you keep it? (Sample size=586)

	All	Male N=332	Female N=254
Only if I like the brand (to SQ1)	6.7%	6.6%	6.7%
Only if I like the design, quality (to SQ1)	50.3%	39.8%	64.2%
Always keep it (to SQ1)	21.8%	23.2%	20.1%
Never keep it	21.2%	30.4%	9.1%

Q1SQ1: Do you reuse these bags you keep? (Sample size=462)

	All	Male N=231	Female N=231
Frequently (to SQ2)	14.5%	9.1%	19.9%
Sometimes (to SQ2)	81.2%	84.0%	78.4%
Never	4.3%	6.9%	1.7%

Q1SQ2: What do you reuse these bags for? (Sample size=442, multiple answer)

	All	Male N=215	Female N=227
To put gifts in	49.5%	42.3%	56.4%
For storing things at home, etc	49.3%	53.5%	45.4%
As a supplementary bag	48.0%	41.4%	54.2%
As an eco bag (use as supermarket)	13.3%	11.2%	15.4%
To carry lunch box	10.0%	5.6%	14.1%
As my main bag	1.1%	1.9%	0.4%
Other	14.0%	10.2%	17.6%

Q2: Have you ever regretted hoarding too many paper bags? (Sample size=586)

	All	Male N=332	Female N=254
Yes	29.9%	24.7%	36.6%
No	70.1%	75.3%	63.4%

Q3: Are you the sort of person who keeps unnecessary stuff just in case? (Sample size=586)

	All	Male N=332	Female N=254
Yes, always keep	23.0%	21.4%	25.2%
If I’m not too sure, keep just in case	51.4%	50.6%	52.4%
If I’m not too sure, throw away	17.1%	16.9%	17.3%
No, always throw away	8.5%	11.1%	5.1%