A recent study by Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University, released this week, has found that the “vast majority of Canadians surveyed” — 93.7 per cent — said they are personally motivated to reduce single-use plastic food packaging because of its environmental impacts.
The study also found that 89.8 per cent believe that regulations to reduce use of single-use plastic or SUP packaging for food should be strengthened.
The aim of the study is to better understand the views of Canadian consumers on SUPs in the food industry, and to explore possible solutions.
Co-authors of the study were Sylvain Charlebois, senior director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab; Tony Walker of Dalhousie’s School for Resource and Environmental Studies; Janet Music, research associate from the School of Information Management; and, Eamonn McGuinty, research associate and student in the Master of Resource and Environmental Management program.
The study was conducted over six days in May. It surveyed 1,014 people across the country, with a margin of error of 3.2 per cent, 19 times out of 20.
"Respondents were more concerned about the environment than food safety, but food safety is still a key issue for retailers and food producers."
- Sylvain Charlebois
SUPs are used only once, then discarded or recycled. They include most food and product packaging, plastic bags, straws, coffee stirrers, and beverage bottles. Reduction of SUPs has emerged as a key environmental concern in Canada and around the world.
Sylvain Charlebois points to the complexity of reducing single-use plastics in the food supply.
“Respondents were more concerned about the environment than food safety, but food safety is still a key issue for retailers and food producers,” he explained in a news release. “We recommend standardization of plastic packaging across Canada, and better alignment between food safety regulations and agri-food’s environmental obligations at all levels of government.”
Other study recommendations include incentivizing compostable packaging (plant-based polymers); encouraging the use of recyclable materials like cardboard, paper and foil wrapping; a voluntary phase-out of plastic bags; and enhanced support for research and commercialization of compostable packaging.
“One interesting finding is that 89.1 per cent of respondents said they could use more education about recycling, plastic use and overall environmental impacts,” co-author Tony Walker said in a statement. “This might be somewhat surprising, considering how much airtime environmental issues are getting these days. It points to an opportunity to bring more Canadians on board with reducing single-use plastics and adopting other environmentally sustainable practices.”
Slightly more than 71 per cent of respondents support a ban of all single-use plastics used for food packaging.
The study found that region, age and socio-economic determinants are significant factors in how Canadians view the SUP issue. Millennials and Gen Zs are generally more mindful of SUPs than previous generations, and people earning more than $150,000 per year are slightly more motivated than those earning less.
Participants in the Atlantic Region and Quebec were most motivated to reduce SUPs, while participants in the Prairies were the least.
Of the respondents, 56.4 per cent reported actively shopping for food with non-plastic packaging. Women are more likely than men to actively shop for non-plastic packaging, but 56.6% of respondents say that in the next six months they intend to increase purchases of food in green packaging.
Plastic packaging should be changed to green alternatives according to 89.8 per cent of respondents and 37.7 per cent of respondents are willing to pay more for an item in biodegradable packaging.
The younger the respondents, the more willing they are to pay a premium. 52.9 per cent would accept paying a government tax to disincentivize use of plastic food packaging, but there is little interest in paying fees to food companies to reduce SUPs.
Bans on SUPs are not as popular as developing and using new packaging technologies such as biodegradable/compostable packaging.
READ THE PRELIMINARY FINDINGS HERE
FROM SYLVAIN CHARLEBOIS:
