ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Environmental Policy and Governance
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2025.1683437
How to incentivize farmers to adopt and recycle high-standard plastic mulch in China: economic subsidies, government regulations or social norms?
Provisionally accepted
- 1Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, China
- 2Renmin University of China, Beijing, China
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Abstract: The extensive application of ultrathin plastic mulch in China has resulted in soil degradation, declining crop yields, and the accumulation of microplastic pollution, thereby threatening both sustainable agricultural development and ecosystem health. Consequently, fostering the adoption and recycling of high-standard plastic mulch (HSPM) through economic subsidies and regulatory measures has become imperative.The widespread use of ultrathin plastic mulch in China has led to soil degradation, reduced crop yields, and microplastic pollution, posing serious risks to sustainable agriculture and ecosystem health. Promoting the adoption and recycling of high-standard plastic mulch (HSPM) through economic subsidies and government regulation is thus essential. Based on survey data from 635 farmers in Gansu Province and econometric analysis, this study finds that subsidies, regulation, and social norms significantly increase HSPM adoption by 13.03%, 11.66%, and 6.18%, respectively, and recycling by 7.02%, 20.12%, and 11.02%. These measures also exhibit interactive effects: subsidies and norms are complementary, and norms may substitute for regulation. Further, incentive effects are heterogeneous. Subsidies are less effective for smallholders but more effective for low-income, nonpolitically affiliated farmers. Regulations and norms are more effective for high-income, politically affiliated farmers, with social norms showing particular promise in motivating smallholders. Key words: environmental regulation; social norms; HSPM adoption and recycling behavior; plastic mulch pollution control; China
Keywords: environmental regulation, social norms, HSPM adoption and recycling behavior, plastic mulch pollution control, China
Received: 11 Aug 2025; Accepted: 06 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Xie, Wang, Zhang and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Siyang Zhang, siyangzhang@ruc.edu.cn
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