Plastics not a priority for politicians but are for the public, says new research

As the UK’s political parties gear up to do battle for No. 10, a team of researchers from the Birmingham Plastics Network and the Institute for STEMM in Culture and Society (ISTEMMiCS), have published findings of a YouGov survey which show that there is a significant mismatch between the UK public and MPs, when it comes to prioritising the environmental impact of plastics.

The findings have been published today (29 February) in a new report titled, A Future for Sustainable Plastics.

The survey revealed that the UK public is more concerned about the threat to society posed by plastic pollution than the coronavirus pandemic or future pandemics, terrorism, economic collapse, natural disasters, and artificial intelligence.

For the UK public plastic-related issues topped the list of environmental problems that are important to tackle. Plastics in the ocean were ranked as the number one priority, followed by the amount of plastic waste produced as second, then plastic in landfill, and microplastics in seventh and tenth place respectively, out of a list of a possible 13 concerns.

However, the survey found that MPs have different priorities. Environmental issues concerning plastics ranked seventh, tenth, eleventh and twelfth (plastic waste produced, plastics in the ocean, microplastics, and plastics in landfills) on the list of environmental concerns. For MPs, overall water pollution and climate change ranked as the top two, presenting a mismatch between the publics’ and politicians' priorities.

Professor Fern Elsdon-Baker, Director of the Institute for STEMM in Culture and Society (ISTEMMiCS), who led the study said: “In the mind of the UK public, plastic pollution is a top-three perceived threat to society, alongside war and climate change. However, this is not reflected in the priorities for policymakers, instead, we see that climate change and interestingly water pollution are much higher on the agenda, the latter being a topic which has had extensive press coverage recently.”

Political party affiliation also influenced how MPs ranked environmental priorities. For Conservative MPs surveyed protecting the countryside and green spaces ranked highest, with 59% of Conservative Members choosing this option as the most important, compared to only 13% of Labour MPs. For Labour MPs, the highest-ranked option was climate change at 58%, in contrast to only 30% of Conservative MPs. Plastic issues did not emerge as a top five issue for either party.

Andrew Dove, Professor of Sustainable Polymer Chemistry, a member of the Birmingham Plastics Network and one of the report's co-authors, said: “There are many environmental issues and threats which politicians need to address, and that can be hard to balance, particularly with international security concerns also taking centre stage at the moment. But what our research shows is that MPs, soon-to-be parliamentary candidates, cannot afford to ignore plastics when it comes to policy, research, regulation, and messaging.”

Professor Elsdon-Baker concluded: “These findings send a clear message for politicians as we get ready for the general election campaigns, to move plastics up the agenda and find more ways to combat this problem. Even though the media focus on plastics as a result of Blue Planet II seems like it was a long time ago, plastics are still a top priority for the public and it is therefore important for this to be reflected in parties’ manifestos.”