Children's mental health affected by plastic
A recent study of children between of the ages of 12 - 18 years old 'found 82 per cent felt hopeless about plastic waste and 25 per cent blamed adults for the single-use plastic waste problem' according to an article from news.com.au.
Here are a few interesting statistics from the research:
- Plastic waste is the fourth biggest concern for parents, with 93 per cent of 551 parents surveyed, saying they were increasingly worried about the level of plastic waste entering the oceans. It ranked behind housing affordability, crime and having a well-paid job as one of their top concerns.
- 97 per cent of the children surveyed said they felt anger or sadness when they saw plastic waste, believing that most of it ended up in the oceans
- 73 per cent of parents said their children called them out for being plastic polluters
- 69 per cent of households said they had done something significant to reduce their plastic waste but only one in five parents have stopped using single-use plastics.
- 57 per cent of wealthier households with annual incomes of more than $150,000 were actively educating their children about plastic waste, compared to 71 per cent of households earning less than this