Environmentally aware behaviour in the Netherlands, 1994-2002

The rise in environmentally aware behaviour among the Dutch is flattening out. There has even been a fall in purchases of beverages in returnable packaging.

	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002

	%
Environmental behaviour
Beverages in returnable packaging	72	70	71	71	70	68	67	66	62
Waste glass to the bottle bank	90	91	91	90	90	90	89	89	88
Separation of organic household waste from other waste	66	76	77	80	78	76	75	74	73
Separation of garden waste from other waste	61	70	74	92	92	92	90	92	91
Chemical waste to a special collection point	81	83	83	86	85	84	83	85	85
Separation of paper and cardboard waste	86	87	89	89	89	89	88	89	88
Own shopping bag instead of plastic bags	82	82	82	80	80	79	78	78	79

Source: CBS.							CBS/EDC/May03/0033
N.B. Respondents aged 18 or over.

Beverages in returnable packaging

There is a downward trend in the purchases of beverages in returnable packaging. In 2002, only 62% of the adult Dutch population said that their households "often" or "always" bought beverages in returnable packaging. In the mid-nineties, this percentage was ten points higher.

Separate waste collection

The number of households separating garden waste has been fairly stable in recent years. Behaviour with respect to taking chemical waste to special collection points and separating old paper and cardboard has also remained virtually the same in recent years. The number of households that say they take waste glass to the bottle bank and separate organic household waste is declining slightly.

Other environmental measures

(Not in the table, see the notes under methodology.)
In 2002, the majority of the population said that they occasionally or often took measures to protect the environment. More than six out of ten people use energy saving lamps, eight have an improved or high-efficiency central heating boiler, eight are careful in how they use light and water and more than five have a water-efficient showerhead.
However, people also use products which are not so good for the environment. In response to questions about household products which are harmful for the environment, more than eight out of ten replied that they used bleaches and almost seven out of ten use chemical toilet fresheners.

Transport preference

Another way of assessing environmental behaviour is to examine transport preference. For local distances, most people travel by bicycle (39%) or car (42%), whilst another 13% walk. 4% use public transport and 2% another means of transport. The car is also the preferred type of transport for longer distances: 83% use the car, followed by public transport (14%) and bicycle (2%). The study of Dutch mobility also collected data about transport preference.
Another indicator is the means of transport for everyday shopping. Here, 46% go by car, 34% by bicycle and 19% on foot. Public transport is hardly used at all for everyday shopping.
For journeys to and from work, the majority (57%) use the car, 24% the bicycle and 13% public transport. Some 3% of respondents are in a position to walk to work and 2% get there by other means. As yet, drivers do not show any widespread interest in carpooling: Eight out of ten make no use of carpooling, 9% do it occasionally and 11% do it often.

Technical note

The information in the table starts in 1994. The other items discussed here were added to the Permanent Onderzoek Leefsituatie (Ongoing Survey of Living Conditions) in 1999. It is not yet possible to identify a trend for these items.

References

CBS (2002). Statline. Permanent Onderzoek Leefsituatie. Statistics Netherlands, Voorburg/Heerlen.

Relevant sections and indicators in the Environmental Data Compendium

Relevant information outside of the Environmental Data Compendium

More information about environmentally aware behaviour can be found on Statline (Statistics Netherlands).