Hungarians are more aware of sustainability, but spend less on it this Christmas

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When asked what steps respondents take for sustainability at Christmas, selective waste collection (69%), product reuse (49%), and reducing the use of plastic bags (46%) were the most common answers. Only 6% said they buy only sustainably packaged products for holiday meals, and only 5% limit their choices to sustainably packaged gifts. These rates did not change much compared to last year, only selective waste collection became more popular – in 2021 only 59% thought about it.

This is the case from the point of view of environmentally friendly packaging

Only 50% of those who, when asked directly, consider this aspect more important when purchasing Christmas presents. 59% of the respondents would accept additional costs, but only 8% would do so under all circumstances. Those who would have been willing to pay more for more environmentally friendly packaging, at least in some cases or if the price difference was not too big, accounted for 74% last year. At the same time, Hungarians have become more aware of sustainability: last year, only 29% of respondents said that environmentally friendly packaging was largely in mind, and for only 8% it was the most important aspect.

23% of the respondents only said that they plan to buy environmentally friendly packaging material for gifts

However, it is reassuring to know that when respondents were asked what kind of wrapping material they would buy for gifts this year, most preferred paper wrapping materials – 59% plan to use wrapping paper, 36% plan to use paper bags and paper boxes. In other words, in reality, much more than 23% choose an alternative for gift wrapping that can be sustainable.

“With proper treatment and recycling, paper and corrugated cardboard can play an important role in the circular economy,” said Zsolt Miklós, managing director of Rondo Hullámkartongyártó Kft. “Corrugated cardboard is 100% degradable, but can also be used to produce new packaging materials, which means that, in principle, next year’s Christmas gifts can also be included in the gift box made from the raw material of this year’s packaging material. Of course, selective waste collection is essential for this, but from the results of the research, it seems that Hungarians have a willingness to do so.”