Plastic Bags Survey – the results

More than 900 people took part in Council’s survey gauging attitudes to plastic bags and their use.

Council Solid Waste Manager Alec McNeil says the survey suggests the majority would not be unhappy about a small charge for plastic bags but more than half the respondents also said a small charge wouldn’t necessarily deter them from using the bags.

Mr McNeil said the results suggest that there could be unintended consequences if the bags were removed overnight.

“Charging for bags would likely change people’s behaviour eventually but how much change we’d see would depend how much was being charged for the bags.”

Three quarters of respondents considered that that plastic bags litter the environment and more than 90% would like the opportunity to recycle their plastic bags. About half of those who took the time to fill out the survey already take their own re-usable bags to supermarket when they go shopping.

The survey results suggest that virtually everyone with a plastic supermarket bag will re-use it at least once – mostly for wrapping up rubbish. But about 70% don’t bother to take any used bags to use on a return trip to the supermarket.

About half our respondents think a reward scheme would encourage people to use re-usable bags while almost as many believe that introducing a charge for plastic bags would be the incentive that would get them using re-usable bags.

Overall, 80% of respondents would be happy to support a small charge per plastic bag – say 10 cents. However 63% would still use them, whether they’re paying a small fee or not.

• The full survey results are on Council’s website https://www.marlborough.govt.nz/services/recycling-and-resource-recovery/rubbish-and-recycling-projects/plastic-bags-survey

ENDS

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