The litter problem isn’t going away

Litter problem

New Zealand is known for its beautiful landscapes and stunning natural features, so why is it being covered in Litter?

In today’s world, we are surrounded by packaging. Almost everything we buy comes in packaging. Takeaway cups, food packaging, plastic wrap etc. It’s important to know where this rubbish may end up. “Waste not” Did a survey over 2014-2015 about litter in our cities, here is what they found.

They counted Litter over eight different urban areas- Auckland, Blenheim, Christchurch, Dunedin, Gisborne, New Plymouth, Taupo, and Wellington. These areas make up about 52% of New Zealand’s population.

They found that “56%-62% of visible and larger, bulky litter items were packaging. Food packaging represented the largest proportion of packaging items (37%) followed by drinks packaging (34%).”

They also found that cigarette butts and gum, are the most common small litter items found around urban areas.

So how does NZ feel about litter? “Keep New Zealand Beautiful” did a survey in 2018 about littering habits.

They conducted a survey between 765 people across the country and found that 93% of survey respondents thought it was very or extremely important that people did not litter, and 99% of respondents thought that it was very or extremely important that New Zealand maintains its Clean Green image.

When survey respondents were asked when they had last littered, 13% admitted to having littered within the past week. When asked why they had littered, they said that they had littered either because there were no bins (27%) or because they are lazy, don’t care, or were too busy (27%).

For Kiwi’s to make sure NZ stays clean, green, and beautiful, we need to be responsible for our actions. To make sure we aren’t covering our cities and landscapes in litter, we should be disposing of our rubbish appropriately, or recycling our plastic.

If you would like to know more about recycling, you can read more about PET here.

Sources:
https://www.knzb.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Litter-Behaviour-Study-Key-Findings.pdf
https://recycling.kiwi.nz/files/3914/3201/1821/National_Litter_Survey_1415_e.pdf

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