Valentine’s Day: Study Reveals Blue/Pink Divide Over Who is More “Green”

While it may be the season to celebrate love, men and women do not always share endearing compliments about their sweethearts when it comes to being “green.” According to recently released survey results, adults in the U.S. and Canada, are not particularly complimentary of their significant other’s level of “eco-literacy.”

The study was commissioned by Call2Recycle®—North America’s first and largest battery stewardship program—and conducted online by Harris Poll among more than 3,000 adults (aged 18 and over) in both the U.S. and Canada in October 2013.

Questions were designed to capture the environmental pulse of couples by asking individual adults to rate the eco-literacy* of themselves and their spouse, significant other or partner. Almost universally, judgment followed gender lines. Whether they rated themselves as “fairly eco-literate” or “very eco-literate,” men and women generally gave their spouses/partners much lower ratings, with the most critical assessments coming from women.

The Pink Perspective

• 75% of Canadian women considered themselves to be very or fairly eco-literate but only 64% of U.S. women felt this way

• Women in both countries had poor perceptions of their partners’ eco-literacy with 43% of Canadian women ranking them very or fairly eco-literate. Only 35% of U.S. women responded in the same way.

The Blue Perspective

• Men in Canada ranked themselves as very or fairly eco-literate at a rate of 75% while 67% of U.S. men ranked themselves in this way

• Men in Canada and the U.S. are somewhat unified in how they view their significant other: 51% of Canadian men considered their spouse to be very or fairly eco-literate while 48% of U.S. men held the same belief

Other findings include:

• When asked “How eco-literate would you say you are?” and “How eco-literate would you say your spouse, significant other or partner is?”, there was considerable disparity. Evaluations of self were inflated while evaluations of sweethearts were de-valued by 20% to 32%.

• Approximately seven in ten (69%) of those surveyed in the U.S. and Canada viewed themselves as very / fairly eco-literate.

• U.S. citizens were more cautious in self-evaluating, as 65% agreed they were very or fairly eco-literate while their 75% of their Canadian counterparts agreed

• Conversely, approximately four in ten (43%) of those same U.S. and Canadian citizens felt their spouse was very / fairly eco-literate

• U.S. citizens were more critical of their spouses’/partners’ eco-literacy as only 41% agreed they were very or fairly eco-literate compared to 47% of Canadian citizens.

*Eco-literate individuals know what is recyclable, know how and where to recycle, and actually do recycle.

About Call2Recycle: Founded in 1994, Call2Recycle—North America’s first and largest battery stewardship program—is a non-profit organization that collects and recycles rechargeable batteries at no cost for municipalities, businesses and consumers. Since 1996, Call2Recycle has diverted over 75 million pounds (34 million kilograms) of rechargeable batteries and cellphones from the solid waste stream and established 30,000 collection sites throughout the U.S. and Canada. It is the first program of its kind to receive the Responsible Recycling Practices Standard (R2) certification. Learn more at call2recycle.org or 877-723-1297.  Follow at facebook.com/call2recycle or twitter.com/call2recycle.

Survey Methodology – United States & Canada This survey was conducted online by Harris Poll on behalf of Call2Recycle both within the United States via its QuickQuery product from Oct. 23-25, 2013 among 2,016 adults ages 18 and older and in Canada via its Global Omnibus product from Oct. 22-28, 2013 among 1,127 adults age 18 and older. These online surveys are not based on a probability samples and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. In each country, the data were weighted to reflect the composition of the general adult population. Where combined percentages are noted, these are notweighted, just mathematical averages calculated from each individual countries’ results. For complete survey methodology, please contact Jen Childress at(678) 218-4580 orMediaRelations@call2recycle.org.

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