UK public agrees – we must cut plastic production and hold producers accountable for the plastics crisis

LONDON: More than two-thirds of UK adults believe those producing or selling plastic products and packaging should bear the bulk of responsibility for tackling plastic pollution in the UK, according to a new survey.

With the final round of UN talks in pursuit of a Global Plastics Treaty due to begin in Geneva next month and the UK Government’s Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee having just hosted a critical evidence session (8 July) to inform the Government’s position, the London-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) commissioned market research company Ipsos to take the temperature of people in the UK in relation to the mounting plastics crisis.²

The survey, fielded to adults aged 16-75 across the UK, suggests the issue may be a pressing one for many people – 91 per cent of those surveyed think plastic pollution has a great or fair amount of impact on the environment.

EIA has long argued that the world will not be able to recycle its way out of the crisis and has called for global targets to reduce plastic production in order to relieve the impact of plastics on the environment and health – an ask that appears to be largely supported by the public, with 71 per cent of respondents indicating they would support such targets.⁴

Furthermore, EIA believes that polluting companies – those producing raw plastics and manufacturing plastic products for sale or as packaging – must be held accountable for the environmental impacts.

In keeping with this, the EIA/Ipsos survey found that 67 per cent of respondents said that manufacturers and producers of plastic or companies selling plastic products or packaging should have the most responsibility for taking action to reduce the amount of plastic pollution in the UK.⁵

EIA Ocean Campaign Leader Christina Dixon said: “Given the UK Government’s focus on the circular economy and the delays and weakening of policies aimed at addressing plastic pollution under the previous administration, it is crucial to establish a Global Plastics Treaty with comprehensive, harmonised and binding rules. Without this, floods of cheap virgin plastic are fundamentally undermining investment in the UK’s circular economy strategy and hampering the country’s struggling recycling industry.

“This Treaty represents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to not only drive transformative change across the plastics value chain and facilitate transition to sustainable systems but also to ensure polluters are held accountable for the plastic pollution devastating communities and the environment worldwide.
“History has shown that voluntary commitments from plastic producers fall woefully short of addressing the scale of this crisis. Without binding regulations, the industry will continue to evade responsibility and fail to take meaningful action.”

Other findings from the survey include:

• in terms of the best solutions to reducing plastic pollution, half of the 2,259 UK adults surveyed wants to see more investment into alternatives which do not require new plastic to be produced, such as reuse and refill systems
• despite the vast majority who think plastic pollution has a great/fair amount of impact on the environment, a much smaller group – 51 per cent – said they think plastic pollution impacts their personal health a great deal or a fair amount. This is despite growing scientific evidence and widespread media coverage about the discovery of microplastics in humans, from blood and brain tissue to placentas.

Dixon added: “The UN’s Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee is set to resume crucial talks in Geneva on 5 August. The urgency for a robust and effective Global Plastics Treaty has never been greater.

“If petrostates and the powerful fossil fuels lobby succeed, we risk ending up with a feeble agreement that fails to address the crisis at hand. Such an outcome would unfairly shift the burden onto consumers and impacted communities while allowing toxic plastic production to continue unabated.

“Our survey clearly indicates that the vast majority of people are not only aware of the problem but also demand concrete action. Moreover, they resoundingly believe that producers must take responsibility for addressing this crisis.

“We urge the UK to play a leading role in the final round of negotiations to ensure a Treaty fit for purpose.”

CONTACTS FOR MEDIA

• Christina Dixon, EIA Ocean Campaign Leader, via christinadixon[at]eia-international.org
• Paul Newman, EIA UK Senior Press & Communications Officer, via press[at]eia-international.org

EDITORS’ NOTES

1. EIA investigates and campaigns against environmental crime and abuse. Its undercover investigations expose transnational wildlife crime, with a focus on elephants, pangolins and tigers and forest crimes such as illegal logging and deforestation for cash crops such as palm oil. It works to safeguard global marine ecosystems by addressing the threats posed by plastic pollution, bycatch and commercial exploitation of whales, dolphins and porpoises. Finally, it works to avert climate catastrophe by strengthening and enforcing regional and international agreements that tackle short-lived climate super-pollutants, including ozone-depleting substances, hydrofluorocarbons and methane, and advocating corporate and policy measures to promote transition to a sustainable cooling sector and away from fossil fuels. It uses its findings in hard-hitting reports to campaign for new legislation, improved governance and more effective enforcement. Its field experience is used to provide guidance to enforcement agencies and it forms partnerships with local groups and activists and support their work through hands-on training.
2. On 8 July the UK Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee held a one-off evidence session focusing on the Global Plastics Treaty as part of its broader inquiry into a circular economy. EIA was among organisations which submitted comprehensive written evidence to this inquiry. The session is available at: https://committees.parliament.uk/event/22354/formal-meeting-oral-evidence-session. MPs are also holding a Backbench Business Debate on the Treaty in Parliament on Thursday 17 July.
3. On behalf of the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), Ipsos surveyed a representative quota sample of 2,259 UK adults aged 16-75. The survey was carried out using Ipsos’ online i:omnibus from 6-10 June 2025. The samples achieved are representative of this population with interlocking quotas on age within gender and quotas on region and working status. Data are weighted to known offline proportions for interlocking cells of gender within age and working status, as well as region, social grade and education to reflect the adult population in the UK.
4. UK adults aged 16-75 were asked: “To what extent would you support or oppose the introduction of global targets aimed at reducing the amount of plastic produced worldwide, or do you have no feelings either way?” Answers were as follows: 35 per cent said ‘strongly support’, 36 per cent said ‘tend to support’, 19 per cent said ‘no feelings either way’, four per cent said ‘tend to oppose’ and three per cent said ‘strongly oppose’. 71 per cent said they support (‘strongly support’ or ‘tend to support’), while six per cent said they oppose (‘strongly oppose’ or ‘tend to oppose’).
5. Respondents were asked: “Which, if any, of the following do you think should have the most responsibility for taking action to reduce the amount of plastic pollution in the UK?” And asked to select from a list of 12 possible entities all that apply. The 67 per cent is a net that refers to the proportion of respondents who have selected either ‘Manufacturers and producers of the plastic’ (52 per cent) or ‘Companies who sell the plastic products or items packaged in plastic’ (53 per cent). The top selected answer option is ‘UK Government and policymakers’ (54 per cent).

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www.eia-international.org
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7354 7960

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