Trends In Shopping Habits, Transportation, Lifestyle And Changes Planned
As Earth Day Month kicks off, results from the "Nalgene Least Wasteful Cities Study" suggest that following the path to a least wasteful lifestyle is done most often when it's easy and convenient. The study surveyed 3,750 Americans representative of the US Census drawn from the 25 largest cities in the U.S., using standard DMA rankings.
The study ranked 23 wasteful or non-wasteful habits of urban Americans, from recycling, to using public transportation to shutting off the lights when leaving the room. When the results were tallied, San Francisco earned the title of America's Least Wasteful City, while Atlanta ranked worst in wasteful living.
Overall results showed that the easier and more convenient an action, the more frequently it's practiced. The good news is that Americans seem to be learning the importance of taking small steps to reduce our impact on the environment. But findings also suggest that the less convenient the behavior such as, taking public transportation, not using a car for short trips and composting, the less often they are being practiced across the country.
Subsequently, these less convenient practices yield higher environmental benefits, such as saving natural resources, reducing greenhouse emissions and excess waste headed for the landfill. Encouraging Americans to engage in these less convenient behaviors will directly contribute to help the world achieve a new standard of living where cleaner air, water and a less toxic environment is commonplace. |
Shopping Habits
- Buying bulk at the local market and carrying out with a reusable grocery is the perfect least wasteful combo: Of those surveyed, 56 percent plan to use reusable grocery bags, 45 percent plan to shop at local markets and 44 percent plan to buy in bulk
- Why buy books when you can go to the library? 44 percent of those urban Americans plan to borrow books from the library rather than buy new ones
- Another man's trash is another man's treasure: 38 percent plan to buy second hand items
- Putting the cork on bottled water: 38 percent plan to not buy bottled water
- Only 5 percent of urban Americans who are trying to be environmentally conscious are carbon offsetting travel and/or purchasing hybrids or more fuel-efficient cars (and only 15 percent are riding bikes)
- Efficiency is top of mind with 62 percent planning to buy energy efficient light bulbs; 31 percent planning to buy energy efficient appliances
- Sustainable living practices are still fledging with only 7 percent planning to buy sustainable wood and/or building products, 6 percent planning to buy solar panels, 4 percent planning to buy wood or pellet stoves
Lifestyle and Outlook
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76 percent are "concerned" about Americans trying to live an environmentally friendly lifestyle
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85 percent said that they plan on being more environmentally conscious in the next year. Why? 57 percent think it is our responsibility to ensure the health of our planet for future generations, while only two percent think it makes financial sense
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Urban American's are trying to be environmentally conscious and least wasteful most often through recycling (78 percent), using energy efficient light bulbs (74 percent) and shopping at local stores (69 percent)
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Residents say they do not think their city is on the right track to becoming more environmentally responsible (69 percent)
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Only 24 percent are participating in city sustainability/environmental programs and 74 percent of urban Americans do not think their cities keep them well informed of green and sustainability programs
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53 percent are concerned about how much trash they throw away and 68 percent are concerned about where their trash goes, yet only 21 percent said they were going to try to throw out less than two bags of trash each week
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Most urban Americans throw away one to three bags of trash each week and 21 percent throw away four to five bags each week; if we could omit just one of those bags each week by composting and recycling we'd be saving energy and reducing landfill overflows
Transportation
- 60 percent of urban Americans that live in a city with public transportation and own a car, said they never use public transportation
- 65 percent of urban Americans are planning to drive for trips that less than two miles from home rather than taking public transportation, biking and/or walking
- We're still a car culture. 69 percent of those urban Americans surveyed do not plan on taking public transportation
- 69 percent of urban Americans do plan on changing their behavior to take public transportation more often in 2009
Reducing & Reusing
- 87 percent of urban American's reuse leftovers, 80 percent of urban American's reuse boxes, 72 percent of urban Americans reuse rubber bands
- 68 percent consider themselves to be environmentally conscious and most are fulfilling this by recycling, using energy efficient light bulbs and shopping at local stores
- 58 percent reuse bubble wrap, 61 percent use a reusable water bottle either always or often, and 56 percent reuse wrapping paper and ribbon
- 52 percent of people surveyed use a reusable water bottle because they are trying to be more eco-friendly, 39 percent reuse glass bottles, 37 percent reuse yogurt and other food containers
- Tea for two? Only on rare occasions, with just 15 percent reusing tea bags
Additional Areas of Interest
- In general, the Western half of the country ranked highest with five Western cities ending up in the top for least wasteful San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Los Angeles, and Denver
- The North East ranked second highest in the US with four cities in the top 10. New York City, Washington D.C. (8), Boston (9) and Philadelphia (10)
- The Mid-west and the South had the lowest rankings with Atlanta (25) and Dallas (24) in the bottom two and Indianapolis (23), Houston (22), and St. Louis (21) in the bottom five
- Minneapolis is below the national average (71 percent) for being concerned about the amount of energy they use (58 percent)
- Florida cities ranked below the national average (63 percent) when asked if they participated in their cities sustainability/environmental programs, in Tampa, 80 percent don't participate and in Orlando, 83 percent don't participate
- Both Portland (51 percent) and Denver (51 percent) say convenience is the ruling factor when buying bottled water versus the national average (38 percent)
- New York City doubles the national average (21 percent) for taking public transportation
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The Nalgene ALWC Study
Overall City Rankings
Methodology
Q&A
Executive Summary |
