Learn about the attitudes and behaviours around plastics, packaging, instore refill and bring-back recycling. The research has been co-funded by UK Research and Innovation.
Key findings
This survey was undertaken with a total of 4,083 UK adults between 8–21 June 2021.
- Plastic waste remains a key concern - Two in three UK citizens (67%) say plastic waste is an important issue to them personally, in line with 2018 (71%).
- UK citizens don’t think enough is being done on plastic waste - Over half (56%) say the most useful packaging innovation would be making more packaging recyclable, the most cited improvement.
- Comparisons over time demonstrate a significant fall in recent years in the proportion of UK citizens who say they recognise three key benefits of food packaging - keeping products safe and hygienic (which has declined from 59% in 2018 to 46% in 2021); keeping the product fresher for longer (43% to 34%) and protecting the product in the home (37% to 27%). There has been an increase in the proportion who cite helps to reduce food waste (from 21% in 2018 to 27%), although this is cited by fewer UK citizens overall when compared to the other benefits just mentioned.
- While UK citizens have noted innovations in food packaging, this is limited to some/a few products rather than recognition of widespread change. For example, over four in five (82%) have noted packaging that is made from recycled content, but only 29% say they have noticed “a lot” of packaging like this.
- Recyclability and recycled content feature highly when UK citizens are asked what the most useful changes to packaging would be for them personally.
Some behaviours, such as re-usable drinks bottles, are relatively common - around two in three (68%) saying they have used one in the past three months. By contrast, many others are at a much lower level – with 19%, for example, reporting using some form of in-store refill (either food, drinks, or laundry/cleaning products). In most cases there is scope for the behaviours to expand and improve the consistency.
Download the full report, summary slides and key findings infographic below.
Recycling Locator
A tool that provides citizens with locations they can recycle different products and materials.
Download files
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Plastics Tracker Report 2021.pdf
PDF, 5.47 MB
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Plastic Tracker 2021 Infographic.pdf
PDF, 329.51 KB
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