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Poll: most Swiss believe littering is steadily decreasing

Littering continues to decrease in Switzerland according to survey
Littering continues to decrease in Switzerland according to survey Keystone-SDA

Littering continues to steadily decrease in Switzerland, according to an opinion poll published on Tuesday.

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According to a survey carried out by the Swiss Competence Cenre against Littering (IGSU), 16% of people say a great deal of litter is not disposed of properly in Switzerland.

When a similar poll was conducted for the first time in 2015, this figure stood at 25%.

The survey about the littering situation in Switzerland was carried out among 2,277 residents at 34 locations throughout the country this year.

+ Proposals launched to tackle Switzerland’s littering problem

Only 0.2% more respondents than last year said that they littered “rather little” or “little”. At the same time, 8.3% of respondents said that there was “a lot” or “rather a lot” of littering at the location where they were surveyed.

The latest results suggest that the situation is continuing to improve, says IGSU.

“We are very pleased that the measures against littering are working,” IGSU Managing Director Nora Steimer said in a press release.

+ Tens of thousands collect rubbish for ‘Clean-Up Days’

Politics, business, associations and, last but not least, media coverage have ensured that awareness of the littering problem in Switzerland has been increasing for years.

This year’s results also show that Italian-speaking Switzerland rates both local littering and littering in Switzerland as a whole as significantly less serious than the other three language regions.

There are also big age differences in the results. People over 65 generally perceive a negative change in the littering situation, while all other age groups see an improvement.

Adapted from German by DeepL/sb

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