People are now learning the value of recycling. They have opted to use metal straws, fabric bags, and reusable containers for their daily needs. This is a good sign because the world is becoming aware of the value of going eco-friendly.
Still, there are still nations that utilize single-use plastic. These end up in the trash, accumulating as the years progress, and adding to the pollution problems. Landfills are filled with these materials, and it may be time to rethink our ways and totally shift to recyclable goods.
Surveys have been conducted worldwide and what they found is this: around three-quarters, or 75 percent, of citizens in a total of 28 countries agree that single-use plastic should be forever banned from use. More importantly, they want this to happen as soon as possible. This was revealed in the ‘Attitudes towards single-use plastic’ survey that was conducted Ipsos.
People residing in Latin American countries, as well as Brazil, Russia, India, and China express their opinions on this, and they have come together to form the highest levels of agreement when it comes to the issue. Around 80 to 88 percent are amenable to the changes. However, only 61 percent of North Americans have expressed their desire to jump in the bandwagon. Nonetheless, this is still more than half the population.
Those who expressed the most desire to ban single-use plastics were in Colombia (89 percent on them surveyed), in Chile and Mexico (tied at 88 percent), and Argentina and China (both at 84 percent). The country that showed the least number of interest were in Japan(only 37 of them were in agreement). As for North America, around 66 percent of Canadians and fifty-five percent of Americans want to see the changes to be implemented. The recent study was conducted on a total of 20,513 adults under the age of 75 in 28 countries.
On average, around 88 percent of them surveyed across 28 countries were asked if this was essential, very important, or fairly important to create an international treaty to fight plastic pollution. Around 90 percent of those who answered came from the Middle East and from Africa.
Each country had clear majorities of consumers and a global average of 82 percent agreed that they actually preferred to use items that had little plastic packaging as much as possible. A big number of people in all 28 countries also came into an agreement that manufacturers and retailers should be responsible for reducing, reusing, and recycling plastic packaging, or lessening its use when possible. The survey had global average of 85 percent participants. Included here as well were the 72 percent of Japanese that had received the same survey.
UN Environment Assembly to Talk about Bans
The survey was commissioned by an organization called Plastic Free Foundation. They did this ahead of time in preparation for the upcoming UN Environment Assembly 5.2. This was the venue for members to discuss on whether or not they needed to start negotiations on a new global agreement that aims to reduce plastic waste and unsustainable production of single use plastics. They also wanted to address the issue on marine plastic pollution during this assembly.
“These results make it very clear that there is a strong consensus globally that single-use plastics should be taken out of circulation as quickly as possible,” said Stuart Clark, Ipsos Australia Director. He added, “The fact that there is such strong support for an international treaty to address the single-use plastics shows that people see this as a challenge that all countries have to solve together.”
“People want to do the right thing,” Clark said, and we can only hope that they will truly become successful in this very honorable endeavor.
What are your thoughts? Please comment below and share this news!
True Activist / Report a typo
