Student Plastic Free Challenge and Plastic Consumer Survey

To find out how Gabriolans felt about plastic packaging students created a Plastic Consumer Survey. This was completed by 299 people. (The results of the survey are below).

Students learned how plastic pollution is affecting our oceans, ecosystems and the food chain. They learned about the different types of plastic, which ones are recyclable and what percentage of plastics are recycled globally. This forced the questions:

• Is recycling plastic a viable solution considering the global market and harmful affect on the planet?
• Considering the climate crisis can we continue to use plastic as a form of packaging?

Six of the students committed to doing a Plastic Free Challenge for the month of July. Their experiences were documented and shared in the local paper as well as on CBC Radio. 

The survey was also used as data to share with the main food store on the island (Nesters), with the aim of suggesting ways that they could navigate away from their plastic shopping bags, single-use plastics and expanding their bulk bin section.