Even in this era of fake news, people haven’t grown distrustful of their community’s recycling system, a study indicates.
Commissioned by the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), the online poll shows people aren’t believing everything they see and hear — and that few of them subscribe to false statements about the recycling industry.
It presented people with a series of statements about the recycling industry and asked respondents whether they were true. The following were the false statement and the results, according to ISRI:
- Recyclable material placed in a residential recycling bin is just mixed with trash later anyway: 11 percent believed to be true
- A product made of recycled material is of a lesser quality that one made from new, raw materials: 8 percent believed to be true
- There are no/little economic benefits to recycling: 7 percent believed to be true
- Recycling does not save energy or conserve natural resources: 5 percent believed to be true
The survey was conducted online by Harris Poll between Dec. 16 and 20 among 2,088 adults.
