82% of UK shoppers say plastic packaging must change drastically, new research commissioned by retail app specialist Ubamarket shows.
The research, based on a sample of 2,003 UK adults, aimed to find out how Briton feel about plastic packaging in our supermarkets. This study has a been released alongside Ubamarket’s feature ‘Plastic Alerts’ feature, which allows supermarket shoppers to easily identify the most environmentally friendly products.
The research shows that:
- 82% – nearly 43 million – of UK shoppers believe the level of plastic packaging on food and drink products needs to be changed drastically
- 77% of Brits, representing more than 40 million nationally, think that, no matter how much they recycle, they feel it is the manufactures and supermarkets that are causing the most plastic pollution
- 44% of respondents, representing 23 million nationally, actively purchased products that have less of an impact on the environment, even if they were more expensive
- 42% – 21.7 million nationally – of the British public want to be more environmentally conscious but feel they do not know enough about recycling and plastic pollution to make informed changes
- 41% of respondents, representing 21.6 million nationally, believe that plastic packaging is having an adverse effect on their health
- 65%, or 33.8 million nationally, want to make the switch to more environmentally friendly products but feel that these products are often significantly more expensive
Will Broome, CEO and Founder of Ubamarket, provides commented: “Recent events have shown that British consumers are more aware of plastic use and pollution than ever before, and it is great to see that more retailers and manufacturers, have in response, started to make positive steps in the right direction. According to Ubamarket’s latest research, over 80% of us think food and drink packaging needs to drastically change, but 42% of Brits don’t feel informed enough about recycling to make the right purchases. New forms of plastics and packaging, along with the right education, if adopted by retailers, will help cement the UK as a driving force in sustainability and reduce our single-use reliance drastically in the coming years.”