According to a Global Survey by IPSOS (Attitudes towards single-use plastic), an average of three-quarters of people across 28 countries agree that single-use plastic should be banned as soon as possible. The study was conducted among 20,513 adults under the age of 75 across 28 countries on Ipsos’s Global Advisor online platform.

The percentage of people calling for bans is up from 71 per cent since 2019, while those who said they favoured products with less plastic packaging rose to 82 per cent from 75 per cent.

Activists say the results send a clear message to governments meeting in Nairobi this month to press ahead with an ambitious treaty to tackle plastic waste, a deal being touted as the most important environmental pact since the Paris Agreement on climate change in 2015.

“People worldwide have made their views clear,” said Marco Lambertini, WWF International’s director general. “The onus and opportunity is now on governments to adopt a global plastics treaty … so we can eliminate plastic pollution.”

Nearly 90 per cent of those surveyed said they supported a treaty, but it remains to be seen whether any such deal will focus on waste collection and recycling or take more radical measures such as curbing production and use of throwaway plastics.

The biggest support for single-use plastic bans in the poll came from the likes of Colombia, Mexico and India, developing countries at the sharp end of a waste crisis.

The IPSOS poll also showed that 85% of respondents globally want manufacturers and retailers to be held responsible for reducing, reusing and recycling plastic packaging, up from 80% previously.

Source: Reuters

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