SME plastic carrier bag pilot survey

Transcription

1 Final report SME plastic carrier bag pilot survey Technical note on a Pilot to identify an approach to obtain data on carrier bag usage by SMEs Project code: CBG Research date: February 2015 Date: November 2015

2 WRAP s vision is a world in which resources are used sustainably. Our mission is to accelerate the move to a sustainable resource-efficient economy through re-inventing how we design, produce and sell products; re-thinking how we use and consume products; and re-defining what is possible through reuse and recycling. Find out more at Document reference: WRAP, 2015, Banbury, SME Plastic Carrier Bag Pilot Survey, Prepared by Claire Fairclough, Databuild. Written by: Claire Fairclough Front cover photography: Carrier Bags. While we have tried to make sure this report is accurate, we cannot accept responsibility or be held legally responsible for any loss or damage arising out of or in connection with this information being inaccurate, incomplete or misleading. This material is copyrighted. You can copy it free of charge as long as the material is accurate and not used in a misleading context. You must identify the source of the material and acknowledge our copyright. You must not use material to endorse or suggest we have endorsed a commercial product or service. For more details please see our terms and conditions on our website at

3 Contents 1.0 Introduction Background Research objectives Methodology Overall approach Telephone interviews Face-to-face interviews Findings Willingness to participate Telephone interview participation Face-to-face interview participation Ability of SMEs to respond Telephone interviews Face-to-face interviews Understanding best terminology for further surveys How SME retailers estimate SME retailer understanding of carrier bag thickness Conclusions Willingness to participate Ability to participate Terminology for future research... 8 Appendix Telephone and face-to-face interview questionnaire... 9 Appendix Telephone interview responses: Carrier bag usage estimates Appendix Face-to-face interview responses: Carrier bag usage estimates Tables Table 1 Participation by sector- telephone survey... 5 Table 2 Willingness to participate by sector number of face-to-face surveys... 6 WRAP SME plastic carrier bag pilot survey 3

4 1.0 Introduction 1.1 Background A charge for plastic carrier bags in England was announced by the Deputy Prime Minister in September 2013 and came into effect in October Although SMEs are exempt from the charge, the introduction of the charge may have some effect on their behaviour. To provide a good overall picture of carrier bag usage in England the estimates for the numbers of carrier bags larger retailers (grocery and non-grocery) need to be combined with the estimated being issued by SME retailers. Including SME retailers in the research creates a significant number of challenges to such as the SME retailers willingness to participate and their ability to be able to respond accurately. As a result of these challenges, WRAP commissioned a small scale pilot to understand the potential to collect data on plastic carrier bag issuing behaviour from SMEs by asking a random sample of SME retailers (both over the telephone and face-to-face) about their willingness and ability to provide the information required. 2.0 Research objectives The objectives of this pilot were to assess the potential to collect data on plastic carrier bags from SMEs and specifically to: a) Understand their willingness to participate. b) Assess the ability of SMEs to respond to questions. c) Understand the best terminology for any potential future survey. 3.0 Methodology 3.1 Overall approach Research for this pilot survey was undertaken through a mixture of telephone and faceto-face interviews. Please see Appendix 1 for a full copy of the questionnaire Telephone interviews 206 retailers were approached by telephone to participate. The sample represented seven different sectors and five locations to ensure a broad coverage of the SME population in both urban and semi urban locations. Yell.com was used to obtain telephone numbers. Telephone interviews ranged from between one and four minutes in length but on average the call lasted just under two minutes. The sectors included grocers, green grocers, newsagents, hardware stores, clothes boutiques, gift shops and pet shops. Locations included Birmingham, Harrogate, Exeter, Orpington and Bromsgrove. WRAP SME plastic carrier bag pilot survey 4

5 3.1.2 Face-to-face interviews 20 face-to-face Interviews were carried out in Sutton Coldfield, Cotteridge and Northfield, all high streets in Birmingham where there are a variety of SME retailers. The face-to-face interviews took on average seven to eight minutes to complete; 15 minutes being the longest. 4.0 Findings 4.1 Willingness to participate Telephone interview participation 206 retailers were telephoned of which 61 were willing to participate, 24 declined and 121 did not respond for a variety of reasons including the telephone number not connecting, a language barrier, the shop owner not available or simply hanging up the phone. Table 1 Participation by sector- telephone survey TOTAL Newsagents Green Grocer Clothes Shop Hardware Store Grocer Pet Shop Yes No No response TOTAL Gift Shop Amongst the retailers that were contacted and spoken to, clothes shops and hardware shops were more willing to participate. This might be because they generally have lower footfall and more time to respond to a survey. Amongst those interviewed, there was no unprompted mention of a carrier bag charge. Some respondents gave their view on this when they asked what the survey was about and an explanation further than outlined in the introductory script was required. Three respondents were removed from the dataset for analysis as they realised they were unable to answer the questions once they had agreed to participate Face-to-face interview participation 20 retailers were visited in three West Midland high streets (Cotteridge, Boldmere in Sutton Coldfield and Northfield). 100% of those asked were happy to respond to the survey; one retailer providing information about three of their greengroceries and another spoke about their two clothes stores. They were all very keen to take part and talk about their businesses. Two respondents were then removed from the dataset as they realised they were unable to answer the questions once they had agreed to participate. SME plastic carrier bag pilot survey 5

6 Table 2 Willingness to participate by sector number of face-to-face surveys Number willing to participate Newsagents 4 Green Grocer 4 Clothes Shop 4 Hardware Store 2 Grocer 1 Pet Shop 1 Gift Shop 3 Charity Shop 1 Total Ability of SMEs to respond The overall finding from both the telephone and face-to-face interviews is that although willing to estimate a figure, very few SME retailers actually know how many plastic carrier bags they use with any degree of accuracy. Most estimates provided were acknowledged as such. Whilst a few retailers stated that they did know, they were still only able to give a very rough estimate Telephone interviews When questioned about their plastic carrier bag usage, only four respondents (three hardware and one grocery store) responded that they could provide an annual number of carrier bags used. Their response however was only an estimate and they had no exact way of knowing their usage. The remaining 54 respondents stated they did not know the exact number on an annual basis, but were willing to estimate across a shorter time period e.g. a week. Two respondents provided an estimate of their use of paper bags Face-to-face interviews During the face-to-face interviews two of the twenty respondents stated that they knew how many carrier bags were used on an annual basis, but as with the telephone interviews their responses were an estimate. 16 respondents provided an estimate across a shorter time period (including one of paper bag use) and two declined to estimate. 4.3 Understanding best terminology for further surveys How SME retailers estimate The vast majority of retailers provided their response by thinking in terms of the number of plastic carrier bags they issue per day or per week. Appendix 2 and 3 show the responses and the language used when making the estimates. Responses were expressed in rounded numbers and vary significantly in terms of volumes. The two respondents interviewed with more than one shop provided the same estimate for each shop. Some retailers mentioned additional challenges in estimation around seasonality. A few retailers used their purchasing behaviour to provide an estimate (e.g. based on number of boxes of bags purchased over a specific timescale). SME plastic carrier bag pilot survey 6

7 When estimating, two respondents (one interviewed by telephone and one interviewed face-to-face) provided information about their use of paper bags. Despite the discussion being introduced as one about plastic carrier bags, there was a need to reinforce this throughout. All retailers were referring to their use of plastic carrier bags (e.g. rather than plastic bags provided on the roll, used for handling fruit or vegetables). In a few cases retailers, particularly greengrocers, referred to different size carrier bags but they were all confirmed as plastic carrier bags for the purpose of the survey rather than the smaller plastic bags. There were two issues to be alert to here: 1. The need to distinguish between small plastic bags and plastic carrier bags 2. The potential that retailers could issue plastic carrier bags of varying sizes to customers SME retailer understanding of carrier bag thickness No respondents knew the thickness of their carrier bags and all were only able to give general responses such as, Very thin and Standard, normal ones. During the face-to-face interviews carrier bag samples were collected and comparisons could be made between responses and carrier bag samples to understand perceptions of thickness. In a third of cases the interviewer was able to see the packaging containing the bags and in 40% of these the packaging showed the thickness of bags. In most cases plastic carrier bags were no longer in their original packaging. 5.0 Conclusions 5.1 Resultant outputs It should be noted that this pilot study was undertaken to assess the willingness and ability of retailers to contribute to a survey. Whilst the pilot demonstrated that this methodology can capture data from SMEs, the outputs collated during the pilot are neither accurate nor generalizable. Samples are not representative of UK retailers at a national or sector level and the majority of responses are rough estimates. The data presented in this report should not be taken as an indication of the performance of UK SMEs. 5.2 Willingness to participate Willingness to participate in the pilot survey was positive, with 30% of those contacted by telephone and 100% of those approached in the face-to-face surveys being willing to participate. Whilst 30% might appear low, given these are small retailers who were contacted using yell.com this is a good result. With further attempts to re-contact those unavailable at the time of initial and subsequent calls, it is likely the response rate would have improved further. 5.3 Ability to participate Of those who agreed to participate, both the telephone and face-to-face surveys have demonstrated that small retailers are unaware of their plastic carrier bag usage and are only able to inform a very rough estimate of what their annual usage may be by SME plastic carrier bag pilot survey 7

8 providing estimates of daily, weekly or monthly usage. Although it is therefore possible to determine a number of plastic carrier bags that SME retailers use, this number would need to be treated with caution and using this methodology, could be considered a guestimate. 5.4 Terminology for future research For any future projects on this topic, it can be concluded that small retailers think about and estimate their carrier bag usage in terms of how many they use per day or per week (and use this to calculate their annual usage). In terms of carrier bag thickness, they are also only able to give generic responses such as very thin or standard rather than technical specifications of carrier bag type. There is also a need to distinguish plastic carrier bags as distinct from paper bags or smaller plastic bags. SME plastic carrier bag pilot survey 8

9 Appendix 1 Telephone and face-to-face interview questionnaire Questionnaire Guidance for reader Square brackets and italics e.g. [Ask if Q1=1 or Q2=1] denote routing instructions or instructions to researchers and will not be read out to the respondent. [OE] denotes that a free-form text, open ended response should be captured. Introduction Good morning / afternoon, my name is x from Databuild Research and Solutions, an independent research company. We are currently doing some exploratory research about understanding carrier bag use amongst small and medium sized retailers? Do you have a few minutes for me to ask you five or six questions about this? [If asked]: [Telephone survey] Organisation name was identified from a commercial database The work is on behalf of the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) WRAP are interested in understanding how many plastic carrier bags are issued by small and medium sized retailers This is part of understanding the potential effect of a charge for plastic carrier bags (although small retailers will be exempt from this) [Willingness to participate - categorise response]: [If yes] Continue [if no] Record, with a reason, if provided [If the respondent cannot participate in the research straight away, make an appointment to call the respondent back] [Telephone survey: In order to comply with the MRS code of conduct]: Before I ask my questions, I need to let you know that all responses will be treated in confidence and will only be used for research purposes by the team undertaking this research. Calls may be monitored for training purposes. [Face-to-face survey: In order to comply with the MRS code of conduct]: Before I ask my questions, I need to let you know that all responses will be treated in confidence and will only be used for research purposes by the team undertaking this research. SME plastic carrier bag pilot survey 9

10 Telephone survey and face-to-face survey: Questions 1. [Capture type of retailer no need to ask if interview is being conducted face-toface] Can I just check, your business is a: Newsagent Greengrocer Grocer Hardware shop Clothes shop Pet shop Gift shop Other, please specify 2. [How many people are employed in your business? [FTE Capture number]: < 250, an SME - continue Over 250, a large firm close 3. Is your shop a franchise or part of a larger chain? Franchise Larger chain [capture number of employees. If over 250, a large firm close] Neither 4. Do you know how many plastic carrier bags you use in a year? [capture OE] [If yes] How many? [If no - see how respondents spontaneously considers the question rather than probing with a range for example] Are you able to estimate the number of carrier bags you use in some other way? 5. Do you know the thickness of the plastic carrier bags you use? Yes [capture OE] No Face-to-face survey only: Questions 6. Is the thickness of the plastic carrier bags that you use indicated on the box that you purchase them in? Yes No [Either way capture any information about the box, especially if you are able to look at it] 7. [To enable comparison to respondent answer on carrier bag thickness] Would you mind if I took a carrier bag as a sample? Yes No SME plastic carrier bag pilot survey 10

11 Closing questions 8. That covers all the questions I had today; many thanks for your time and help. Would you like to take our number or the Market Research Society Free-phone number in order to confirm who we are? Asked for Databuild number Asked for MRS Freephone number No Capture anecdotal information 9. [Do not ask question] Record anything the responses mentions about carrier bag use during the conversation 10. [Do not ask question] Record your own thoughts on the responses provided e.g. the quality of responses provided SME plastic carrier bag pilot survey 11

12 Appendix 2 Telephone interview responses: Carrier bag usage estimates (Greyed out respondents offered carrier bag usage on an annual basis although it is actually an estimate) Per Day Per Week Per Month Per Quarter Annual Less than 1000 Annual Implied Estimate Less than 100 Hardware Hardware 24,000 24,000 Hardware Grocer Greengrocer About 200 a week Greengrocer Maybe about 200 a week Greengrocer 20 a day 7280 Greengrocer A 2000 box of carrier bags of a week Greengrocer 100 a week 5200 Greengrocer 20 a day 7280 Clothes Not many, won't be more than Clothes Probably 100 a week 5200 Clothes Less than 100 a week 5200 Clothes About 10 a day 3640 Clothes Probably about 10 a day but more on the weekend 4160 Clothes per day, about 40 on a Saturday. (paper) 0 Clothes 220 per week rough estimate (paper) 0 Gift Shops Maybe around 200 a week Gift Shops About 300 a week Gift Shops 2000 a quarter 8000 Gift Shops 4-10 a day 2184 Gift Shops Gift Shops Probably under 200 a week Not many, about 100 a week 5200 Gift Shops Not a clue, very roughly about 600 a month maybe more 7200 Gift Shops About 200 a week Grocers Maybe 50 a day Grocers Maybe 200 a week Also estimated using two boxes of 1000 small plastic bags per week SME plastic carrier bag pilot survey 12

13 Per Day Per Week Per Month Per Quarter Annual Annual Implied Estimate Grocers a month Grocers 30 a day Grocers 1000 bags every 2-3 weeks Grocers 100 a week 5200 Grocers 200 a week Grocers 30 a day Grocers 10 to 12 a day 3640 Grocers 50 a day Hardware 1000 a week Hardware Think we use per week but this may increase during summer 2600 Hardware Less than a 1000 a month Hardware 200 a week Hardware At least 500 a month 6000 Hardware 1 a week 52 Newsagents box of 1000 every 8 weeks 6500 Newsagents About a 1000 a week 5200 Newsagents 200 a week Newsagents Maybe about 30 a day Newsagents 20 a day roughly 7280 Newsagents Maybe about 30 a day Newsagents 200 a week, rough estimate Newsagents 50 a day Newsagents a day Newsagents 200 a week Pet Shop Less than 100 a week 5200 Pet Shop Really rough estimate a day but varies 3640 Pet Shop 30 a week 1560 Pet Shop 1 a week 52 Pet Shop 6 a week 312 Pet Shop 1000 every couple of months, about 500 a month 6000 Pet Shop Maybe 10 a week 520 SME plastic carrier bag pilot survey 13

14 Appendix 3 Face-to-face interview responses: Carrier bag usage estimates (Greyed out respondents stated they knew their carrier bag usage on an annual basis although it is actually an estimate) Per Day Per Week Per Month Per Quarter Annual Annual Implied Estimate Pet Shop 25,000 25,000 Clothes About 8 41,600 packets with 100 a Gift Shops week Gift Shops 20 per day 6, customers per day 0 Gift Shops (PAPER BAGS) Charity Shops 5 per day 1,500 Clothes 10 a day 3, a 10,400 Clothes week* 200 a 10,400 Clothes week* Clothes 50 per week 2,500 Have two different types of 455,000 bags: 1000 a day of the smaller bags and 250 a Greengrocer day of the bigger ones* 2 Have two different types of 455,000 bags: 1000 a day of the smaller bags and 250 a Greengrocer day of the bigger ones* Have two different types of 455,000 bags: 1000 a day of the smaller bags and 250 a Greengrocer day of the bigger ones* Greengrocer 200 a week 10,400 4 boxes 4,800 ordered per month with Greengrocer 100 in 100 in box - 1,200 box per Grocer month A few a 104 Hardware week Hardware 100 a day 5,200 Newsagent 200 a week 10,400 Newsagent 50 a day 18, per 5,200 Newsagent week *duplication due to owner having multiple shops within the area 2 Retailer issues two sizes of plastic carrier bags to customer, choice dependent on size of purchase SME plastic carrier bag pilot survey 14

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