Published on January 15, 2020.
Concern for the environment and environmental problems that affect our country are issues that are increasingly present in the daily lives of Chileans. This was shown by the VIII Survey on Attitudes towards the Environment, carried out during the months of August and September 2019 by the Center for Research for Sustainability (CIS) of the Andrés Bello University, together with Ipsos Chile.
Within the statistics provided by the study, it is mentioned that concern for the environment is ranked 4th in order of importance (15%), after Work (31%), Health (19%) and Education ( 17%) at a general level. Looking at the specific issues, the main environmental problem is waste (30%) followed by climate change (20%), breaking the trend of previous measurements where air pollution was the main problem. When investigating the issue of waste within the survey, the results regarding recycling contrast with the national reality associated with the management of household solid waste.
According to the survey, in Chile only 4% of solid waste is recycled, ending up the remaining fraction (96%) in sanitary landfills and landfills. Despite the enactment of the REP Law, the absence of specific regulations associated with priority products has prevented an increase in solid waste recycling rates, especially those of household origin.
