In late 2019, we asked our community for your views and opinions on environmental sustainability in our area. Over 900 locals participated in this survey, conducted by Jetty Research. 

A big thanks for your time and opinions!

Key things you told us*:

Is the environment important to you? 

• 95% agreed 

Do you feel that your actions can contribute to protecting the environment? 

• 71% said yes

Do you aspire to live a more sustainable life? 

• 92% said they did

Have you changed behaviour in last 3 years on environment sustainability?

• 3 in 5 people had (mainly 18-44 year olds)

Main motivations to change: 

• Desire to make a difference; concern for climate change; doing the right thing

Changes included:

• Improving recycling
• Avoiding single use plastics & packaging
• Composting
• Conserving water use
• Reducing electricity
• Using sustainable transport more
• Advocacy

Main barriers to change: 

• Too busy, don't know what's available and unsure what to do

How important is it for Council doing stuff in this space? 

• Almost unanimous support for Council to allocate resources towards addressing a range of environmental issues  

What other stuff should we be doing?

• Many said they'd like to see more education, engagement and communications to support sustainability efforts in the community 

Have you been involved in Council-run sustainability activities? 

• Almost 50% have

Do you know what Council does to protect the environment?

• Over half didn't 

How do you want to hear from us on environmental activities? 

• Direct email and online

What’s next?

We’ll be using the survey results to help inform our efforts going forward, so that we can work better with our community to achieve our environmental targets. 

Any questions/comments?

Email us @ [email protected]

About the survey:

Jetty Research conducted a telephone online survey on behalf of Waverley Council, designed to understand current awareness of and participation in Council-supported environmental activities, measure attitudes towards the environment and motivators and barriers to engaging in environmental sustainability activities.

Polling was conducted 6-23 November 2019. 500 randomly selected residents (aged 18+) took part in the 16 minute survey. Telephone data was weighted to reflect the 2016 ABS Census profile of the LGA. 440 residents took part in the online survey which was promoted via Council communications channels and networks. These key results are based on the random telephone survey findings, and are representative of the community.

*key results from the random phone survey.