Scottish Government

Although the questions on advertising were asked later in the interview to avoid prompting the attitudinal measures, the advertising findings are reviewed initially to enable any developments on the latter to be assessed against the background of ad awareness levels.

i) Spontaneous recall

General
When asked whether they had seen or heard any advertising or publicity on the subject of environmental issues recently, 29% claimed to have done so at this latest wave, a significant drop from Wave 3, where 42% claimed to be aware of advertising. The figure does however correspond quite closely to the 32% recorded at Wave 2. The drop in awareness between Waves 3 and 4 can largely be explained by the usage of less dominant media at this latest stage in the campaign, specifically the lack of TV advertising. TV advertising is generally the medium which achieves the highest cut-through.

Media
Respondents were then asked where they had seen or heard publicity on the subject of the environment and the media mentioned are shown in the table below.

Table B.1 - Where seen or heard publicity on environmental issues
Base: Aware of any publicity

As a high impact medium, television generally emerges as the main point of reference on media recall measures. This therefore accounts for the 63% who claimed to have seen advertising on TV at this latest wave despite the lack of TV activity. Of the mediums used for this latest campaign, advertising in newspapers increased to 17%; the highest level for this medium across the last three waves. Awareness of posters also increased since the last wave, from 5% to 10%, thus returning it to the level recorded at Wave 2.

Content recall
All who recalled having seen advertising relating to environmental issues on posters recently (27 people) were asked to describe what they had seen. As the base sizes are low, the results below are shown as absolute figures:

• 7 people mentioned a blue plastic bag/rubbish flying about a field;
• 6 people mentioned telling you to use bottle banks;
• 3 people mentioned tells you how to dispose of garden waste;
• 2 people mentioned Keep Britain tidy.

The only mentions that could be directly attributed to the current poster campaign were the blue plastic bag mentions.

All who recalled having seen advertising relating to environmental issues in newspapers (46 people) were asked to describe what they had seen. Again, as the base sizes are low, the main results are shown as absolute figures:

• 13 people mentioned tells you to recycle;
• 6 people mentioned don't dump/report fly tippers;
• 20 people were unsure what they had seen.

The main message to cut through from newspaper advertising was the generic message that it tells you to recycle. In addition, 6 people mentioned the current ad campaign featuring Richard Wilson on the subject of fly tippers.

ii) Campaign Reach

To establish reach of the press/poster ads, respondents were shown 4 separate ads and asked whether they recalled having seen them on press/posters recently. The results obtained were as follows.

Table B.2 - Reach of newspaper/poster ads
Base: All respondents

Overall, two fifths of respondents (40%) had seen at least one of the ads. The ad with the highest reach was blue bag, which just over a quarter (26%) claimed to have seen. Given that this ad also had the highest level of spontaneous mentions, this ad is clearly the strongest in the current campaign. The ad with the second highest reach was Thermostat (16%) whilst Kettle and Bottle had similar levels of reach at 11% and 9% respectively.

2. Environmental issues in Scotland

A list of potential environmental problems was read out to respondents and, for each one, they were asked to indicate how much of a problem they thought it was for the environment in Scotland - very serious, fairly serious, not very serious or not at all serious. The table opposite provides a summary of the issues raised and ratings recorded on each among the sample as a whole. These are ranked in order of perceived seriousness based on the mean scores at Wave 4. The mean scores are calculated by applying a range of values from '4' for 'Very serious' to '1' for 'Not at all serious' to the various points on the rating scale.

The first point to note is that there have been no significant improvements on the perceived seriousness of any of the issues at this latest wave. Strongest concern is noted for global warming or climate change, with 53% saying it is a 'very serious' problem and 84% regarding it as very or fairly serious; a level which is on a par with the previous waves. Disposal of waste generally is perceived as the second most serious issue, (44% of respondents saying it was 'very serious') with a similar number of respondents agreeing it is very or fairly serious compared to the previous wave (85% vs 86% at Wave 3). With the vast majority already endorsing these statements as serious, large improvements over time are not to be expected. Instead, it is reassuring to note that the level of endorsement has been sustained over time.

Although it has recorded very little movement over the last 3 waves, damage to the countryside and loss of wildlife is now the problem third most likely to be perceived as 'very serious' in terms of the environment. The remaining statement to record little movement over time was using up natural resources such as coal, oil or gas which 76% continue to regard as serious.

The perceived seriousness of the four remaining issues has however fallen significantly since the last wave and indeed these are at their lowest levels since tracking started. This has occurred for air pollution from traffic, pollution from industrial sites, treatment and disposal of sewage and pollution of the water environment by farming. The pattern therefore suggests that respondents are now regarding a number of the issues as less serious than they did previously, which may be of some concern. Ideally, each of these issues should increase, or at least remain consistent in perceived seriousness over time as understanding of the issues surrounding the environment grows.

3. Importance ascribed to environmental issues

As a measure of attitudes towards the environment generally, respondents were asked to indicate on a 4 point scale the importance personally of the environment and environmental issues. The overall situation is shown below.

Table B.4 - Importance of environmental issues personally
Base: All respondents

Overall agreement that environmental issues are important to respondents personally has remained the same as Wave 3, at 85%. At this latest wave however there were slightly more respondents regarding it as very important (41% vs 38% at Wave 3 and 36% at Wave 2). Despite the fact that respondents did not regard many individual aspects as serious as they had done previously, there has been a hardening of beliefs generally over the waves.

4. Attitudes towards the environment

To probe further on this issue and the extent to which members of the public feel willing and able to take positive action in relation to the environment, respondents were asked to indicate the strength of their agreement or disagreement with a series of attitude statements. A 5 point scale of 'Agree strongly' (+2)-'Disagree strongly' (-2) was used for this purpose, with figures in brackets denoting the range of values applied to ratings to calculate mean scores in this case. The facing table presents the statements in question and the scores recorded on each.

The results on this measure are fairly mixed, with two statements recording more negative results at this latest wave. Specifically, although the increase is not significant, there has been a general increase over time in those agreeing that I never really think about the effect my own lifestyle is having on the environment. There has also been a decrease, and indeed a significant decrease, in those agreeing that I feel that I should do more to protect the environment.

On the other hand, there have been three positive movements over the waves. Specifically, there are fewer people agreeing with the following: there's not much I can do personally which will help protect the environment, I am not sure what changes I can make in my lifestyle to help the environment and industry is mainly to blame for harm to the environment rather than the general public.

There is therefore no clear pattern emerging on this occasion, with respondents appearing to take more responsibility on the one hand, but on the other appearing to feel less personally involved.

5. Actions taken as a result of concern for the environment

Having investigated perceptions and attitudes in relation to the environment, attention then focused on behaviour of an environmentally-friendly nature. Firstly, respondents were asked to identify from a list of courses of action those which they followed nowadays or had done so in the last 12 months as a result of concern for the environment. Overall, 93% had undertaken at least one of the actions on the list, slightly higher than the figure of 91% recorded at Wave 3 and 90% at the earlier waves. Individual levels of participation are shown below. These are based on all respondents, with the exception of using public transport instead of travelling by car, which is based on those with access to a car or van in the household. It should be noted that some of the statements were changed at this latest wave and as a result, cannot be compared to earlier waves.

Table B.6 - Actions taken through concern for the environment
Base: All respondents (except *)

* Base on access to car/van in household : 784

Of the four statements which can be tracked over the waves, there has been an improvement on two. Specifically, significantly more respondents (62%) are now claiming to choose appliances for your home which are more energy efficient in their running. There was also a significant increase in the number claiming to use energy efficient light-bulbs at home. Perhaps reflecting increases in these specific energy saving actions, there has been a consistent decline in the number claiming to take other actions to keep down the amount of electricity and fuel used in your home over the waves. However the latter may also be a result of new statements being added at this latest wave which relate to electricity and fuel in more indirect ways.

The one remaining statement which could be tracked over time is buying products from recycled material. This remained at the level of 60% recorded at Wave 3 which is slightly lower than the 70% recorded at Wave 2.

Of the new statements added at this latest wave, the most highly endorsed was the number who claimed to use bottle banks or paper banks to recycle (69%) and in fact, this was the most highly endorsed statement of all. Over half (55%) claimed to not overfill the kettle whilst 45 % cut down in the amount of heating in their home. Amongst car owners, just over a third (35%) claimed to use the car less as a result of concern for the environment.

6. Recycling

Availability of facilities for recycling is a major influence on participation in such activity. To assist in the interpretation of data on current levels of recycling among respondents, the sample was also asked whether there were any recycling facilities, such as a paper or bottle bank, reasonably close by. The increased provision of such facilities would appear to be continuing, since 74% have these close by at the latest wave compared to 71% at Wave 3, 66% at Wave 2 and 63% at Wave 1.

A prompt list of types of household waste was shown to establish the level and nature of any recycling undertaken. In the table below, findings are presented for the total sample and in relation to access to recycling facilities.

Table B.7 - Household waste recycled
Base: All respondents

Significantly more respondents are now claiming to recycle than they have done at previous waves. Specifically, 78% claimed to recycle at all at this latest wave, with all individual types of waste increasing and indeed some very markedly. Specifically, cans/tins and plastic have both almost doubled in the number claiming to recycle them. Despite bottles/glass having been the most widely recycled materials at the previous two waves, paper/cardboard has now become the most recycled waste, with a third (66%) claiming to recycle this type of waste. Clearly, the public are not only now more aware of recycling and recycling facilities but they are also significantly more likely to recycle themselves.

This result may also help explain the earlier finding whereby less respondents felt that they should do more to protect the environment. If respondents are now recycling to higher levels, they are perhaps more likely to believe that they are doing enough already.

C. Tabulations

Table B.3 - Perceived seriousness of issues for the environment in Scotland
Base: All respondents [Wave 2: 1056 (%); Wave 3: 986 (%); Wave 4: 1022(%)]

Table B.5 - Attitudes towards the environment
Base: All respondents [Wave 2: 1056 (%); Wave 3: 986 (%); Wave 4: 1022 (%)]

D. Questionnaire

The views expressed in this report are those of the researchers and do not necessarily represent those of the Department or Scottish Ministers.

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