During our daily busy lives, full of appointments and errands, we tend to consume a large volume of single-use plastic items and packaging, without realising that most of these could be easily avoided. The Ministry for the Environment, Climate Change and Planning (MECP) recently commissioned a study through the National Statistics Office to understand people’s behaviour, to then be able to bring about much-needed change.

The festive season is upon us and, with it, comes an even higher consumption rate – especially that of packaging and plastic wrapping, a bulk of which is associated with grocery shopping. 

Grocery shops are hubs for single-use plastic items and excessively plastic packaged items. Thankfully, some shops are already doing their part to go green and transition towards more environmentally friendly products and circular practices, although there is still a long way to go. But how is the consumer behaving? 

This study involved carrying out of a national telephone survey to assess the public’s behavioural patterns related to single-use plastics and plastic packaging in supermarkets, on beaches and other places. 

The survey was carried out in summer 2020 – a period characterized by the current all-time high consumption rate of single-use plastics, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Surveys of the sort are carried out to better understand behavioural patterns and consumption trends amongst the public. The aim is to shape future policies according to emerging trends and base them on solid information originating from the end user, in this case the consumer. 

Understanding our behaviour

According to the NSO study, carried out as part of the Saving Our Blue Campaign, the top three single use plastic items bought from grocery shops and supermarkets are plastic drinking bottles (33.1%), followed by plastic containers (23.2%) and plastic food wrappers (22.0%). 

The majority of the household physical shoppers (62.8 %) said they avoid buying single-use plastics and items with plastic packaging. The main reason why they do so is due to the negative impacts that plastic has on the environment – an option chosen by 84.4% of the household physical shoppers. 

Another reason for avoiding plastic packaging is because it does not add any value to the product – according to 10.6% of respondents.

We can all do our part to save the environment by choosing sustainable alternative products and options, but the question lies in how much we are willing to change unsustainable habits. 

Changing our behaviour 

The Ministry for the Environment, Climate Change and Planning intends to drive this shift towards more sustainable consumption. In fact, as of January 2021, the importation of certain single-use items including plastic carrier bags (which are frequently given to customers especially when shopping) will be banned. The banning on the importation of these products will be paving the way to January 2022, when these single-use items and lightweight plastic carrier bags will be banned from being put on the market and sold to the public. 

This change in consumption behaviour should not be perceived as a barrier to carrying out every day shopping or shopping sprees during the festive season.

This can be easily remedied through the use of a reusable shopping bag instead of a single-use plastic bag. One must admit that, at some point in time, each and every one of us has forgotten their reusable bag and opted for a plastic bag without any hesitation... It is estimated that a plastic bag is only used for a span of just 12 minutes, then it is discarded resulting in a waste of resources. If not disposed of properly for recycling or littered into the environment, plastic bags will remain with us for quite a long period, eventually breaking down into microplastics – small pieces of plastic which can pollute our environment, poison birds and marine organisms and contaminate the food chain. 

Moreover, littered plastic bags can easily pose danger to birds and marine species through entanglement and suffocation. Apart from alleviating pressure on the environment, banning plastic bags and single-use plastics will also help our islands through the reduction of plastic waste and packaging, therefore reducing waste generation on a small island with limited space. 

For more information on similar initiatives follow the Saving Our Blue Campaign on Facebook and Instagram. The Saving Our Blue Campaign is an initiative run by the Ministry for the Environment, Climate Change and Planning to raise awareness about the negative impacts of single-use plastics and marine litter and to encourage the public to opt for alternatives to single-use plastics. 

Be part of the solution, not the pollution!