Every fourth Bulgarian tries to use eco-friendly shopping bags
Almost 80% of the Bulgarian citizens have made or are making conscious efforts to influence the environment in the least harmful way. The data is from the most recent nationally representative survey of BBSS Gallup International on the topic of the ecological way of living, conducted for Klassa daily.
The study of the environmentally-friendly habits and efforts is being conducted for the third time and aims at tracking the attitudes and behaviours of the Bulgarian citizens over the years.
Collected data since 2009 up to now has shown a trend of an increasingly larger number of Bulgarians being concerned about their influence on the environment and about how to help to protect it.
In the first edition of the survey in 2009, over one-third of adult Bulgarians (35%) said that they had not made any effort or had not taken any measures related to an environmentally-friendly lifestyle. This percentage has followed a trend of steady decline in the next two editions of the survey. Today, less than one fifth (19%) of the polled people say that they have never done anything in order to protect the environment.
Saving water for household needs is the most popular measure for a greener lifestyle of Bulgarian citizens. Over half (53%) of the adult population say that they strive not to waste excessive amounts of water for bathing, washing, laundering and similar activities. The percentage of people saving drinking water has followed a growing trend since 2009 onwards.
The replacement of conventional light bulbs with energy saving ones is the second most popular measure undertaken by the population in terms of care for the environment. Just over 40% of Bulgarians say that they have put such bulbs in their homes. The use of energy saving light bulbs recorded substantial growth between 2009 and 2011 and, currently, remains unchanged, compared to the figures for 2011.
The popularity of the use of cloth or rapidly disintegrating shopping bags, as a substitute for conventional plastic ones, has recorded the most substantial growth. At present, over a quarter of the population puts its purchases in a cloth bag or a rapidly disintegrating one. Since last year alone, the share of Bulgarians who use eco bags has increased over two and a half times and about five times, compared to 2009.
Text and photo: klassa.bg
(25.06.2012)