Green Myths Persist Among the Public, Says Survey

A new survey commissioned by paper advocates Two Sides has revealed that myths surrounding paper and its effect on the environment are still common among Europeans.

The survey, carried out by Toluna, asked 6,000 consumers from Austria, Germany, France, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Italy and the UK about their environmental concerns and opinions when it came to paper.

Only a fifth of those surveyed said they thought Europe’s paper recycling rate was over 60% – Two Sides reports that in fact, it is over 72%.

75% of respondents believed that it is important to buy and use paper from sustainably managed forests, but just 34% said they paid attention to forestry certification labels when purchasing paper and paper products. However, Two Sides explained that this could be down to a lack of awareness of the two major certification schemes – the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), with only 34% of respondents saying they knew of FSC, and 27% knowing of PEFC.

Speaking to PrintWeek, Two Sides country manager Greg Selfe commented, “The forestry misconceptions and the misunderstanding of the recycling rate of paper in the UK and in Europe have always been at the core of the Two Sides campaign.

We conduct similar surveys every couple of years and the trends do show an increase in understanding and perception of these topics, but there is clearly still a lot of work to do.”