Most California voters support plastic recycling but not a ban on new plastic
A new survey finds that Californians back plastics recycling legislation and care about recycled plastic content in purchases
According to a new survey, California voters have high expectations for the effectiveness of the Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act, known as S.B. 54, but show little support for regulations that would ban plastics. The poll, conducted by Stagwell's The Harris Poll on behalf of Eastman, finds that 81 percent of California voters support the legislation, and 63 percent want the state to "expand and improve its recycling infrastructure to find ways to give a new life to plastics". That compares to only 27 percent who prefer the state eliminate single-use plastic and stop manufacturing new plastics.
Chemical versus mechanical recycling processes
The survey also finds that voters see clear differences between chemical recycling technologies and strongly believe methanolysis - a technology that can recycle the most common plastic packaging waste into new plastic materials over and over again - should be part of any solution implemented under S.B. 54. A small majority (56 percent) of voters understand mechanical recycling alone can't meet California's S.B. 54 recycling targets.
"California voters want S.B. 54 to be successful, which means regulations must recognize what voters already know — not all chemical recycling is the same, and mechanical recycling alone cannot achieve the goals set out in the legislation," says Sandeep Bangaru, vice president of circular economy platforms at Eastman. "We have technology today to help keep plastic out of the environment and begin to end the cycle of burned or buried plastic waste.
Two-thirds (65 percent) of California voters surveyed agree, when provided with a simple explanation, that not all chemical recycling is the same and understand there are meaningful differences between processes. Meanwhile, 71 percent of respondents say that it matters to them that the products they buy are made with recycled plastic.
"Eastman's cutting-edge technology transforms common plastic waste into new materials that can be recycled again and again while reducing carbon and other emissions, compared to producing new plastic or old recycling technologies," says Bangaru. "This technology makes it possible to reduce the production of new plastics altogether."
The study surveyed 1,005 registered California voters, representative of the state, on key demographic characteristics defined by the U.S. Census.
