Norms
Social norms exert their pressure by negating any deviances from typical behaviour through implicit but powerful conformity influences, such as social disapproval (or at least, perceived social disapproval). Individuals are using what other people are doing as indication of what would gain favour (and conversely, defying such norms would disfavour). Given that majority of others do not engage in zero waste, individual may not follow through with it because they infer that doing so will draw social disapproval. In fact, research suggests that social disapproval need not align with objective reality and that mere perceptions are strong enough to induce socially-mediated emotional responses (e.g. shame).
(Based on personal anecdotal evidence, I can attest for this barrier. During
my 2-week zero waste challenge, I listened to recounts of my friends’ “second-hand embarrassment” (to quote one of them) when they saw me put trash in my Ziploc bag and when I asked an ice-cream store cashier to put the ice cream in my reusable cup (see image above). Despite the lack of “people staring at us”, it was clear that their reaction to my ‘deviant behaviour’ wasn’t based on present evidence but because of conditioned social behaviour.)
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