Abstract
BACKGROUND: As the interest in delivery and take-out meals increases, so too does the amount of food packaging that ends up in the landfill. Programs and incentives are already in place and continue to be adjusted to encourage the reduced reliance on these materials. This study focuses on returnable and recyclable container programs (RRCP)and British Columbian's interest in these programs for Metro Vancouver. METHODS: A survey was created using Google Forms as an online self-administered survey and distributed to participants as a QR code or through email. The survey contained 14 questions that varied from recycling habits to take-out habits to demographics and took less than five minutes to complete. A chi-square test was used to analyse the data from five hypotheses based on question #12 regarding their interest in RRCPs for Metro Vancouver. RESULTS: The total number of completed responses received was n=118, of those 55% (n=63) were 40 or younger and 45% (n=51) were over the age of 40. For the question about gender, 56% (n=67) identified as female, 41% (n=49) identified as male, ~2% (n=2) chose not to identify or identified as two-spirit. There was overwhelming support for initiating an RRCP program in Metro Vancouver with 83.1% of all respondents being in favour. Results also suggested that this support was broad based with no demographic group(s) showing more interest than others. There was no statistically significant association between gender and interest in RRCPs (p=0.13) or between age and interest in RRCPs (p=0.81). Additionally, it was concluded that there was no association between living inside or outside of Metro Vancouver(p=0.15), recycling habits (p=0.77), or take-out habits (p=0.82) and the participants interest in RRCPs for metro Vancouver. CONCLUSIONS: The small survey of British Columbians showed support for an RRCP regardless of other variables (age, gender identification, location, or take-out and recycling habits). The total number of responses were limited compared to the population of British Columbia, but the results suggest that the public is very interested in reusing food containers for take-out meals and the introduction of RRSPs should be explored further. This research also provides some valuable information into the public interests of recycling and waste in British Columbia.