LocalCircles: 8 in 10 Indians surveyed want government to make it mandatory for all packaged foods to have packaging that is recyclable, compostable, biodegradable or reusable by end of 2025
As the government marks 10 years of Swachh Bharat Mission, at least eight in 10 Indians have found discarded wrappers and bottles in their area regularly, according to a LocalCircles survey.
The survey received over 22,000 responses from citizens located in 305 districts of India. 68% respondents were men while 32% respondents were women. 46% respondents were from tier 1, 33% from tier 2 and 21% respondents were from tier 3 & 4 districts.
The survey first asked, “What all discarded single food packaging do you commonly see on the streets/footpaths in your area/district/ city?”
Some among the 11,470 respondents to this query indicated more than one kind of plastic waste. The largest group of 86% indicated wrappers of chips/namkeen/ candies/ biscuits; another 86% indicated plastic bottles of water/ soft drink/ juices; 77% indicated poly packs of various drinks; 68% pointed to wrappers of gutkha/ pan masala and cigarette boxes; 45% indicated pouches of dairy products (milk, curd, etc.,); 14% stated other products and only 14% of respondents stated “don’t see any of the above where I live”.
To sum up, wrappers of chip, namkeen, candies, biscuits, etc., and plastic bottles of water/ soft drinks are commonly seen by most Indians on streets and footpaths in their area/ district.
8 IN 10 WANT RECYCLABLE, COMPOSTABLE, REUSABLE PACKAGING MANDATORY BY END OF 2025
The survey next asked citizens, “Should India make it mandatory for all packaged foods to have packaging that is recyclable, compostable, biodegradable or reusable by the end of 2025?”
This query was answered by 19,890 respondents with 80% stating that “yes, absolutely” the government should make it mandatory for food companies to use only recyclable, compostable, biodegradable or reusable packing by the end of 2025”; 12% of respondents indicated the deadline of 2025 is “not practical”; 4% felt the idea itself is bad and another 4% did not give a clear response.
To sum up, 8 in 10 Indians surveyed want government to make it mandatory for all packaged foods to have packaging that is recyclable, compostable, biodegradable or reusable by end of 2025
The survey was conducted via LocalCircles platform, and all participants were validated citizens who had to be registered with LocalCircles to participate in this survey.
LocalCircles is a Community Social Media platform which enables citizens and small businesses to escalate issues for policy and enforcement interventions and enables the Government to make policies that are citizen and small business centric.
