In recent years, global concern has grown over plastic pollution and its serious effects on the environment. From polluting oceans to endangering marine life and contaminating food chains, the environmental repercussions of plastic pollution are far-reaching and alarming.
As awareness of these issues expands, there’s a growing momentum to address the problem, emphasising the urgent need to cut down on plastic waste and safeguard our planet from further damage.
We asked 900 people in Germany, the UK and the Netherlands about actions they’ve taken to reduce plastic use and their reasons behind their choices. Here’s what we found:
Germans are the most concerned about the impact of plastic pollution (65%), in comparison to Brits (57%) and Dutch people (46%)
Across all 3 countries, using reusable shopping bags is the top lifestyle change that people have made to reduce plastic waste: UK 86%, Netherlands 72%, Germany 68%
Protecting marine life from the threat of plastic pollution is the top reason Germans (62%) and the Dutch (53%) choose to reduce their use of plastics.
Whereas, reducing landfill is the top reason Brits over (67%) choose to reduce their use of plastics, followed closely by protecting marine life (65%).
Over one-third of Brits think government policies and regulations have been ineffective, compared to less than a third of Germans and almost one-fifth of Dutch people.
The infographic below represents our key findings from the research:
