Taking steps to protect the environment has become an important part of many people’s daily routines, but 86% believe Ireland would be a greener place if the public did more, according to new research by not-for-profit environmental organisation, Repak.
The research, carried out to examine the public’s attitudes towards recycling and plastics, reveals 75% believe recycling correctly is the first step in driving environmental change. Avoiding single use plastics (59%), walking or cycling more often (49%), making homes more energy efficient (43%) and shopping local (42%) are other ways that people feel we could be doing to make Ireland greener.
Since Repak Team Green launched in 2018, the collective efforts of the public to recycle correctly has resulted in an increase of recycled plastic packaging tonnes by 22% or 17,472 tonnes.
The theme of this year’s Repak Team Green campaign is called ‘Re-Imagine’ and has been created to help extend the consumers understanding of how recycled plastic can be made into many different products and materials if recycled correctly.
Ireland currently recycles 31% of all plastics, but only 21% of people are aware that it needs to increase to 50% by 2025 under EU Legislation. Learning what items can and cannot be recycled, as well as putting all recyclable packaging waste into the recycling bin clean, dry and loose is what everyone in Ireland must do to reach the 50% target.
For more information on Repak Team Green, visit repak.ie/team-green.
