Majority poll for ban on single-use plastic ANP
Disposable plastic should be banned, according to a large majority of Dutch participants in a poll conducted by research agency Ipsos. Commissioned by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the agency asked more than 500 people in our country what they think of the statement “single-use plastic should be banned as soon as possible”. 71 percent agreed.
Also in other countries, the WWF has polled opinions on plastics and regulations by Ipsos. A ban on single-use plastics is supported by about eight in ten respondents in countries such as Argentina and Australia. In the United States, that percentage is much lower: 55 percent is in favor of a ban.
According to the survey results, in all 28 countries where the poll was held, a large majority is in favor of concluding an internationally binding treaty against plastic pollution. More than 20,000 people took part in the poll. Most Dutch respondents also think such a treaty is a good idea: 57 percent consider it “very important” or even “essential”, almost 30 percent consider it “reasonably important”. More than 8 percent of the remaining minority think it is not important, more than 5 percent say they do not know.
In the same poll, 84 percent of the Dutch agreed with the statement that manufacturers and sellers are responsible for reducing plastic use and for recycling. “A better environment starts with government and business and not with consumers,” concludes the WWF. “The current plastic crisis is too big for this.”
Earlier this year, the WWF warned in another report of a sharp increase in plastic waste in the oceans in the coming decades. Without action, this pollution threatens to quadruple by 2050, according to the organization. The organization sees a good time to draw up such a treaty in a summit of the United Nations Environment Program to be held next week in Kenya.