Why consumers shift from single-use to reusable drink cups: An empirical application of the stage model of self-regulated behavioural change

Using single-use drink cups contributes to environmental issues like littering, resource depletion, and carbon dioxide emissions and thus comes into conflict with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. There are reusable alternatives to such single-use cups available to the general public, but uptake has so far been limited. To explain what factors are associated with using single-use cup alternatives, we apply the stage model of self-regulated behavioural change in a cross-sectional questionnaire study, N = 573. We investigated three single-use cup alternatives: a refundable cup system, bringing one's own cup, and reducing one's consumption of hot beverages on the go. According to the model, behavioural change occurs in four stages: predecisional, preactional, actional, and postactional. An individual requires stage-specific information and needs to make stage-specific decisions to progress towards sustained behavioural change. The results of our study showed which factors were associated with consumers’ shifts from single-use cups use to each of the alternatives and which factors need to be targeted to advance individuals to the next stage of change. We found that a chain of increased awareness, responsibility, and negative emotions, complemented by social norms, positive emotions, and goal feasibility, was associated with an increased intention to change away from single-use cups. The choice of a behavioural alternative was most strongly associated with the perceived control over the behaviour. Based on these results, we derive recommendations for practitioners on which levers to use to effectively reduce the use of single-use cups.