Frequent and frequently deliberate release of plastics leads to accumulation of plastic waste in the environment which is an ever increasing ecological threat.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent of customer switching and the reasons that underlie customer‐switching intentions. The paper aims to focus on the various factors on account of which a customer may or may not switch a particular bank.Design/methodology/approachA total of 800 bank customers were selected randomly from a total population of 71,600 and were contacted personally to gather the requisite data.FindingsThe paper finds that the model reveals significant effect of quality, satisfaction and trust on predicting switching barriers. Of these relationships, satisfaction emerged as the strongest factor which influences switching barriers.Research limitations/implicationsThe study is limited to Indian banks; a larger empirical study would be useful to replicate the results in the banking as well as other services.Practical implicationsIn order to ensure loyalty among bank customers, increased value addition in the banking services and wide‐ranging relationships with customers can make the switching process more complex.Originality/valueThe preliminary work in this paper demonstrates the impact of various relationship marketing factors, namely, service quality, customer value, satisfaction, trust, commitment, loyalty, switching costs and barriers on customers' switching intentions.

The global need for clean manufacturing technologies and the management of hazardous chemicals and waste present new research challenges to both chemistry and biotechnology.

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Recent evidence supports the role of menthol, a TRPM8 agonist, in enhanced energy expenditure, thermogenesis and BAT-like activity in classical WAT depots in a TRPM8 dependent and independent manner. The present study was designed to analyse whether oral and topical administration of menthol is bioavailable at subcutaneous adipose tissue and is sufficient to directlyinduce desired energy expenditure effects. GC-FID was performed to study menthol bioavailability in serum and subcutaneous white adipose tissue following oral and topical administration. Further, 3T3L1 adipocytes were treated with bioavailable menthol doses and different parameters (lipid accumulation, “browning/brite” and energy expenditure gene expression, metal analysis, mitochondrial complex’s gene expression) were studied. No difference was observed in serum levels but significant difference was seen in the menthol concentration on subcutaneous adipose tissues after oral and topical application. Menthol administration at bioavailable doses significantly increased “browning/brite” and energy expenditure phenotype, enhanced mitochondrial activity related gene expression, increased metal concentration during adipogenesis but did not alter the lipid accumulation as well as acute experiments were performed with lower dose of menthol on mature adipocytes In conclusion, the present study provides evidence that bioavailable menthol after single oral and topical administration is sufficient to induce “brite” phenotype in subcutaneous adipose tissue However, critical dose characterization for its clinical utility is required.