Survey suggests Canadians eager to shift from plastic packages, but cost a factor

HALIFAX – A survey of over 1,000 Canadians indicates the vast majority of respondents are eager to reduce single use plastics, but aren’t always on board with paying more for alternatives.

The Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University released its findings today on attitudes towards single-use plastics.

Sylvain Charlebois, director of the research lab, says in a release that almost 94 per cent of respondents feel motivated to reduce use of plastics, and 90 per cent believe stronger regulation is needed.

Seven out of 10 respondents also said they support a ban of all single-use plastics used for food packaging.

However, only about four in 10 are willing to pay more for an item in biodegradable packaging — and just under half of respondents didn’t support taxes that penalize the use of plastic food packaging.

Charlebois says one the key difficulties in shifting away from plastics is that retailers remain very concerned about food safety, even as consumers say the environmental issues are more important to them.

The study was conducted over six days in May 2019, included 1,014 people and has a margin of error of 3.2 per cent, 19 times out of 20.