Air pollution and landfills are top Russian environmental concerns.
MOSCOW, February 6, 2019. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the results of a study devoted to ecology.
Twenty-three percent of Russians have noticed improvements in ecological situation (assessing the situation in their city/location over the recent 5 years); 31% report deterioration. Today respondents tend to put the blame for the ecological situation on local (30%) and regional (23%) authorities. The share of those who blame people themselves is also high. Only 7% place responsibility on the federal bodies. The efforts of these bodies to tackle environmental issues are assessed ambiguously: 36% see certain results, though insufficient; 33% say there are no results.
The major environmental issues involve air pollution (22%), landfills (16%), pollution of rivers and lakes (13%), untimely garbage collection (11%), tap water poor quality and lack of greenery expansion in forests and parks (6%, each). At the same time, 21% of all respondents believe that there are no environmental problems of high priority today.
Seventy-four percent of respondents have heard of the “garbage reform”, however only 24% are well aware of it. According to Russians, the reform primarily consists in developing waste management systems (27%), raising the tariff rates (19%) and creating a Single Regional Operator (7%). More than half of Russians (58%) are satisfied with the situation in household waste recovery. They are opposed by 38% of respondents.
VCIOM-Sputnik survey was conducted on January 15, 2019. The survey involved 1,600 Russians aged 18 and over. The survey was telephone-based and was carried out using stratified dual-frame random sample based on a complete list of landline and mobile phone numbers operating in Russia. The data were weighted according to selection probability and social and demographic characteristics. The margin of error at a 95% confidence level does not exceed 2.2%. In addition to sampling error, minor changes in question wording and different circumstances arising during the fieldwork can introduce bias into the survey.
The 2009, 2010 results are based on household surveys.
In your opinion, how has the environmental situation changed in your area/location over the recent five years? (closed-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) | |||||
| 2009 | 2010 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
It has improved | 10 | 10 | 24 | 25 | 23 |
No changes | 43 | 43 | 39 | 44 | 44 |
It has deteriorated | 41 | 43 | 35 | 27 | 31 |
Don’t know | 6 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
In your opinion, who should be primarily responsible for the environmental situation in your area/location? (closed-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) | ||||
| 2010 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
Local authorities(city’s, district’s ) | 23 | 25 | 29 | 30 |
Regional authorities (governor, head of administration or region) | 14 | 23 | 25 | 23 |
People themselves | 12 | 25 | 20 | 21 |
Special government bodies (Ministry of Nature, environmental police, Emercom, etc.) | 17 | 8 | 10 | 8 |
Federal bodies, government in general | 27 | 10 | 7 | 7 |
Non-profit organizations including environmental organizations | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
Enterprises | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
Don’t know | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 |
How would you assess the efforts of the federal bodies to tackle environmental problems today? (closed-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) | |||||||
| Total respondents | Moscow and St Petersburg | Million cities | 500-950,000 inhabitants | 100–500,000 inhabitants | <100,000 | Rural area |
The bodies do a lot to tackle the issues | 10 | 13 | 7 | 6 | 9 | 9 | 12 |
There are some results but they are insufficient | 36 | 32 | 47 | 37 | 42 | 29 | 34 |
There are no visible results; everything stays the same | 33 | 30 | 25 | 31 | 30 | 39 | 33 |
The situation is even getting worse; problems are exacerbating | 15 | 16 | 14 | 18 | 11 | 17 | 15 |
Don’t know | 6 | 9 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 6 |
What is the major environmental problem in your area/location today? (open-ended question , not more than 3 answers, % of total respondents; only top answers) | |
| Total respondents |
Air pollution | 22 |
Landfills, garbage recycling | 15 |
Pollution of rivers, lakes, shores | 13 |
Too much garbage/no one collects waste; untimely collection | 11 |
Not enough green space; lack of greenery, parks, forests | 6 |
Poor quality of tap water | 6 |
Other | 13 |
No environmental problems | 21 |
Don’t know | 15 |
Since January 1st, new regulations on solid household waste management have come into force (the so called “garbage reform”). Do you know/have you heard about it? (closed-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) | |
| Total respondents |
I am well aware of it | 24 |
I heard something but I do not know any details | 50 |
I have never heard of it until now | 26 |
Based on what you know, can you tell what the “garbage reform” consists in? (open-ended question , not more than 3 answers, % of those who know or heard about “garbage reform”) | |
| % of those who know or have heard of the “garbage reform” |
Positive and relatively neutral statements | |
Waste sorting | 27 |
Establishment of “Single Regional Operator” | 7 |
Construction of waste recycling plants | 4 |
Waste management | 4 |
Waste recycling | 4 |
Organization of waste collection | 3 |
Waste transportation to landfill sites | 3 |
Environment protection | 1 |
Elimination of illegal dumps | 1 |
Negative statements | |
Tariff rise | 19 |
Nothing will change/a reform not well thought through | 1 |
Another corruption scheme | 1 |
Other | 1 |
Don’t know | 17 |
Are you generally satisfied/dissatisfied with the situation concerning the collection and reuse of household waste in your area/location? (closed-ended question, one answer, % of total respondents) | |||||||
| Total respondents | Moscow and St Petersburg | Million cities | 500-950,000 inhabitants | 100–500,000 inhabitants | <100,000 | Rural area |
Rather satisfied | 58 | 71 | 54 | 59 | 56 | 57 | 58 |
Rather dissatisfied | 38 | 28 | 40 | 39 | 41 | 40 | 38 |
Don’t know | 4 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 |
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