University of Molise, Dept. of Economics, Campobasso, Italy; CoNISMa, Consorzio Nazionale Interuniversitario per le Scienze del Mare, Rome, Italy.
University of Molise, Dept. of Economics, Campobasso, Italy.
Mar Pollut Bull. 2021 Apr;165:112160. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.112160. Epub 2021 Feb 17.
Understanding public perceptions, opinions and knowledge about marine plastic litter issue is a critical step in effectively engaging society and changing human behaviour in order to reduce litter inputs. The study performs a segmentation analysis that jointly considers opinions about sources and impacts of a sample of 605 Italians with a twofold objective: i. to identify homogeneous segments of people according to the importance they attach to different sources and impacts of plastic litter; ii. to understand if behavioural aspects and personal characteristics emerged for each cluster of people. Gender, education and living areas significantly affect respondents' opinions, knowledge and behaviour. A high level of awareness and concern emerged. Four clusters- "the silent majority", "the least concerned and involved", "the little conscious of litter sources", and "the most severe and committed"-, reveal the heterogeneity of people's profiles. Policy implications in terms of knowledge, education and behaviour for reducing marine plastic pollution are discussed.
了解公众对海洋塑料垃圾问题的看法、意见和认知，是有效让社会参与并改变人类行为以减少垃圾排放的关键步骤。本研究进行了细分分析，综合考虑了 605 名意大利人对样本中不同来源和影响的看法，具有双重目的：i. 根据他们对塑料垃圾不同来源和影响的重视程度，确定人群的同质部分；ii. 了解每个人群簇是否出现了行为方面和个人特征。性别、教育程度和居住区域显著影响了受访者的意见、知识和行为。结果显示，公众的意识和关注程度较高。四个群体——“沉默的大多数”、“最不关心和参与的”、“对垃圾来源最无意识的”和“最严重和最坚定的”——揭示了人们特征的异质性。最后讨论了减少海洋塑料污染方面的知识、教育和行为政策含义。
