Half of consumers observe whether the production process is sustainable, says research

The importance of sustainability for Brazilian consumers has increased. This is what shows the survey “Portraits of Society: Sustainable Habits and Conscious Consumption”, by the National Confederation of Industry (CNI), released this Friday (18), in which half (50%) of those interviewed stated that they verify whether the product they intend to purchase was done in an environmentally sustainable way, with 24% always checking, and 26% most of the time. In 2019, the last edition of the survey, this percentage was 19% for both options.

Still according to the survey, 74% of Brazilians say they adopt sustainable habits, with 30% of them doing it “always”, 44% “sometimes”.

The survey also shows that 38% of Brazilians are willing to pay more for organic products — those produced without pesticides and chemical fertilizers. In 2019, that number was 36%.

Among those with income above five minimum wages, 53% buy this type of food, even though it costs more. In the range that earns up to one minimum wage, this percentage drops to 28%.

In addition, 38% of respondents said they were willing to spend more on products that adopt procedures for animals to live more closely to nature or that reduce their suffering.

However, it was also pointed out by two thirds of respondents that these products are more difficult to find in stores, while 26% claim to be able to access them easily.

Recycling

The CNI survey also pointed out that 68% of Brazilians have the habit of separating materials for recycling. Once again, a growth in percentage when compared to previous editions: in 2019, it was 55%; in 2013, 47%.

The materials that Brazilians mostly separate to be reprocessed are plastics in general, including PET bottles, cited by 76% of respondents, followed by aluminum
(56%), paper/cardboard/newspaper (53%) and glass (47%).

However, 32% of respondents highlighted the lack of habit or forgetting to do the separation. Another 18% of respondents claimed that there is no selective collection in the street, neighborhood or city where they live. Still, there was an improvement compared to 2019, when the index was 25%.

Waste of water and food

Another data revealed by the CNI is that 70% of Brazilians always try to avoid wasting water, while 20% say they do most of the time. As for the habit of reusing water, 53% of respondents said it was something frequent in their routine; and for 20% sometimes.

As for food waste, 73% said they always try to avoid the practice, while 16% said they try to do it most of the time.

Regarding unnecessary energy expenditure, 65% of respondents always adopt measures to avoid waste and another 21% pointed out that this is a practice they resort to most of the time.

Reusing product packaging is another common practice: 46% say they always reuse it, while another 22% do it sometimes

The CNI survey interviewed 2,019 people aged 16 and over in all states and the Federal District between October 8 and 12, 2022. The margin of error is 2 percentage points, with a 95% confidence interval.

(*text published by Tiago Tortella)