Packaging waste management company Gamtos ateitis, commissioned a survey, conducted by the market research company Baltijos tyrimai, to find out what motivates people in Lithuania to sort their waste for recycling.
Three out of four people sorting waste said that they do so for environmental reasons, with 74% of respondents stating that they want to contribute to the saving of natural resources and the reduction of landfills. Nearly a third of them indicated that their sorting was encouraged by having a convenient sorting system and containers close to home.
The sample size is quite small, with 530 residents across Lithuania were surveyed across a three day period in February, but the results are definitely interesting...
The young and higher earners are more environmentally motivated
According to the survey responses, sorting waste because of environmental concerns is most often done by residents of cottages and detached houses (up to 83% of those survey participants), plus the residents of large cities and rural areas. In addition, young people (18-29 years old) and middle-aged people (30-49 years old) are more likely to cite environmental concerns as their motivation. Income also seems to play part, with people in higher income groups more likely to sort their trash.
“The study revealed a strong determination of the Lithuanian population and the formed awareness about waste sorting. Responsible waste sorting is demonstrated by social and personal initiatives taken by people: collecting rubbish in nature through communities, organizations or families, cleaning up their living areas. The younger generation pays special attention to sorting due to nature conservation, and we observe this in other countries as well, ” says Diana Ramanauskaitė, Head of Publicity and Marketing at Gamtos Ateitis.
Easy access matters
Almost a third (30%) of people sorting their trash said they are encouraged to do so by access to a convenient sorting system and containers close to home. This incentive is particularly important to the elderly (50-74), urban dwellers and people living in semi-detached houses and cottages. The convenience of the sorting system is also mentioned by higher-income residents as an incentive to sort.
"We do good work in everyday life when we have the conditions to implement it. So people sort when they have where to dispose of waste for different purposes. This message is important to us, because it is at the moment that we are taking care of optimization throughout the waste management chain. We actively cooperate with municipalities, respond to their needs and take action. We plan to have more than 10% percent this year. to increase the number of containers throughout Lithuania, to increase the efficiency of waste removal and to strengthen the control and responsibility of our subcontractors” Ramanauskaitė continued.
In 2021 alone their is a plan to install about 40 thousand new rubbish sorting containers across the country.
"These changes will have a direct impact on the population, for whom waste sorting will become even more convenient. Knowing the exact need of municipalities, we and other packaging waste management organizations can make decisions that meet the need” adds the Head of Publicity and Marketing of Gamtos Ateitis.
According to the survey data, the convenience of the sorting system is usually regarded as find by those people who already sort their waste. In fact, 92% of the respondents who already sort believe that the sorting system in their area is in order.
Half of the people sort all of the time
Even though 95% of those surveyed said that they sort their waste, many do it only part of the time, with just over half claiming that they always sort their trash. Another three out of ten sort waste frequently, with 15% saying they do it infrequently. Encouragingly only 5% of respondents said they never sort waste.
Almost 4 in ten respondents (37%) say that they have enough information about sorting and no longer need to hear more about it. These are usually people over the age of 50, managers and the unemployed. Only 7% of respondents said they did not care and were not interested in sorting.
Half of the respondents (51%) said that they wanted to know more about waste sorting. This need was more often expressed by women, young people under 30 and, perhaps surprisingly, those who already sort always or often.
Ramanauskaitė says "This research results clearly show that information about sorting is mostly sought by those who are already actively involved in it and want to improve their sorting skills. We know well from our own experience that most questions about which container to put one or another container in arise when we have already started to sort household waste in practice. In the current environmental context, sorting, as in other areas of life, requires interest and some effort to find that information”
Myths and misinformation
Waste management organisations and local government give out information about sorting waste on a constant basis, through various means: on the Internet, in the media, and at educational events. They also try to collaborate with educational institutions, and use visible and recognizable faces to help deliver the message, but some people seem unaffected:
"From the myths of the past, we can see that those who do not sort waste will always find an excuse not to do so. Some people don’t know the facts and mistakenly believe that all the waste still goes to landfill. For some people, the container in the next yard is too far away, and the third is to clean up the discarded packaging - although this is not even a necessity, but only a recommendation. When we ask these questions to the sorters, they are surprised by the denial of the real situation,” Ramanauskaitė says.
One more place where it seems that people don't pay much attention to the information that is given out is when it comes to discarding protective masks. Despite repeated public recommendations to throw disposable masks in a separate plastic bag with organic waste, nearly a third of people throw masks into a plastic container.
