Consumer Convergence and Collective Motivations for Purchasing Ethical Products

A robust literature has developed that demonstrates that ethical consumption, particularly “buycotts,” is on the rise. However, not much is known about (1) consumer convergence: do consumers who purchase one “ethical” product also purchase others, and (2) the degree to which ethical consumers make their purchasing decisions for collective reasons. We attempt to fill this lacuna in the literature. This study uses results from a mail survey of a random sample of 500 Colorado residents to examine the degree of convergence between consumers of organic, fair trade, locally grown, animal friendly, made in the United States, and union made products with tetrachoric correlations coefficients and binary logistic regression models. We also investigate the degree of convergence between consumers who report holding collective motivations for purchasing ethical products through these same methods. Our findings indicate strong support for convergence between ethical consumers and consumers who believe they are acting collectively. The results suggest that many ethical consumers believe they are part of an “imagined community” of citizen–consumers who through their joint purchasing decisions are critiquing and hopefully changing traditional production–consumption commodity networks

Transformation and removal pathways of four common PPCP/EDCs in soil

Pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) and endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) enter the soil environment via irrigation with treated wastewater, groundwater recharge, and land application of biosolids. The transformation and fate of PPCP/EDCs in soil affects their potential for plant uptake and groundwater pollution. This study examined four PPCP/EDCs (bisphenol A, diclofenac, naproxen, and 4-nonylphenol) in soil by using (14)C-labeling and analyzing mineralization, extractable residue, bound residue, and formation of transformation products. At the end of 112 d of incubation, the majority of (14)C-naproxen and (14)C-diclofenac was mineralized to (14)CO(2), while a majority of (14)C-bisphenol A and (14)C-nonylphenol was converted to bound residue. After 112 d, the estimated half-lives of the parent compounds were only 1.4 – 5.4 d. However a variety of transformation products were found and several for bisphenol A and diclofenac were identified, suggesting the need to consider degradation intermediates in soils impacted by PPCP/EDCs

Removal of Trace Organic Chemicals and Performance of a Novel Hybrid Ultrafiltration-Osmotic Membrane Bioreactor

A hybrid ultrafiltration-osmotic membrane bioreactor (UFO-MBR) was investigated for over 35 days for nutrient and trace organic chemical (TOrC) removal from municipal wastewater. The UFO-MBR system uses both ultrafiltration (UF) and forward osmosis (FO) membranes in parallel to simultaneously extract clean water from an activated sludge reactor for nonpotable (or environmental discharge) and potable reuse, respectively. In the FO stream, water is drawn by osmosis from activated sludge through an FO membrane into a draw solution (DS), which becomes diluted during the process. A reverse osmosis (RO) system is then used to reconcentrate the diluted DS and produce clean water suitable for direct potable reuse. The UF membrane extracts water, dissolved salts, and some nutrients from the system to prevent their accumulation in the activated sludge of the osmotic MBR. The UF permeate can be used for nonpotable reuse purposes (e.g., irrigation and toilet flushing). Results from UFO-MBR investigation illustrated that the chemical oxygen demand, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus removals were greater than 99%, 82%, and 99%, respectively. Twenty TOrCs were detected in the municipal wastewater that was used as feed to the UFO-MBR system. Among these 20 TOrCs, 15 were removed by the hybrid UFO-MBR system to below the detection limit. High FO membrane rejection was observed for all ionic and nonionic hydrophilic TOrCs and lower rejection was observed for nonionic hydrophobic TOrCs. With the exceptions of bisphenol A and DEET, all TOrCs that were detected in the DS were well rejected by the RO membrane. Overall, the UFO-MBR can operate sustainably and has the potential to be utilized for direct potable reuse applications