Monthly Poles throw away food worth nearly PLN 3.3 bln

As many as 63 percent of Poles are considered to be ecologically living people, according to a study carried out by IQS on behalf of Gumtree Polska on the environmental attitudes of Poles. The pandemic and the period of self-isolation resulted in 66 percent of respondents who have more time for pro-ecological behavior and concern for the environment. Nevertheless, the knowledge of ecology and the real actions of Poles indicate that we have a long way to go. And we, the consumers, should initiate changes as soon as possible.

Only every third Pole has come across the concept of zero-waste so far and declares that he knows what it means. This is a surprisingly low result because, in recent years, popular companies and concerns have loudly pledged to operate following the zero-waste philosophy. Interestingly, men much more often indicate a lack of knowledge of the subject – every fourth of them indicated that they have encountered this concept, but are not sure if they know what it means. Among people who declared knowledge of zero-waste, almost every second (46%) indicated that they implemented the principles of this philosophy in their home in the last year.

Even though recently the prices of garbage disposal have been increased several times – in Poland, for the second year in a row, this service is the fastest in Europe, we still generate waste to a great extent. Gumtree Polska asked for an estimate of the value of products that end up in the trash from Poles' homes. It turned out that the average Pole throws away foodstuffs worth PLN 104.10 a month. From the perspective of the entire country, this gives an alarming number – adult Poles waste PLN 3.28 billion every month.

"Our study showed that men throw away food with an average value of PLN 25.51 higher than women. However, the greatest waste is reported by young people aged 18-29 and 30-39 years – their trashcans are PLN 128.42 and PLN 134.11, respectively,  in the form of food products," Katarzyna Merska, Communication Coordinator at Gumtree.pl, said.

(WBJ)