Eurobarometer Survey Results Released

31 March 2011

The Flash Eurobarometer survey - "Attitudes of Europeans towards resource efficiency" - has published its study results on the EU citizens' perceptions, attitudes and practices concerning resource efficiency, waste management and recycling.

According to the survey, conducted by Gallup Organization, Hungary, upon the request of Directorate-General Environment, 58% of EU citizens presume their households do not produce too much waste. This comes in contrast to the waste generation statistics of the Europeans, which is pitched at an average of more than half a tonne of rubbish every year.

The data gathered by the survey more than substantiates this view. Citizens of 21 of the 27 EU countries are under the assumption that their households do not produce too much waste with Latvia, Bulgaria and Romania recording the highest percentage of citizens holding this view at 73%, 74% and 75% respectively. Only 41% of Europeans had a more realistic idea of their individual waste generation.

Furthermore, the Europeans surveyed also had very low estimates about the amount of food they throw away, with 10% saying they did not waste any food, while around 7 in 10 stating that 15% or less of the food that they bought went to waste. When inquired as to what would help them to waste less food, "62% felt better estimates of portion sizes, 61% mentioned better information of food product labels and 58% would like smaller portion sizes to be available in shops."

With regard to better waste collection services as a solution to improve waste management, the majority of respondents agreed in its favour, with Greece (93%), Romania (92%) and Bulgaria (91%) recording the highest percentages of people who shared this opinion. On whether producers should pay for the collection and recycling of waste in order to achieve better waste management 63% of EU citizens conceded to the idea.

About buying products made of recycled materials, 8 in 10 (86%) EU citizens were willing, with Sweden and Denmark heading the pack with 96%.

Almost 7 in 10 (68%) Europeans agreed in favour of buying certain products second hand, such as furniture, electronic equipment or textiles and Swedes seemed most likely to act on this with 83%.

Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik said: "This survey shows that most of us do not realise how much we are really throwing away. Where waste cannot be prevented we must use it as a valuable resource. Much of our waste can be re-used or recycled - from food and garden waste to old mobile phones. And being resource-efficient can even save us money - reducing food waste, for example, could save EU households around €500 a year."

A detailed analysis of the survey can be found here: http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/flash/fl_316_en.pdf

Krishna Buddhiraju