#Millennials, Gen-Zers won’t date someone who doesn’t recycle: survey

When it comes to dating 20-somethings, there are few bigger turnoffs than putting refuse in the wrong receptacle, according to a new survey by Cluttr, which found that millennials and Gen-Zers prefer dating someone who regularly recycles.

The unwanted-item bazaar set out to determine tech-savvy young people’s “environmental concerns affect their buying and recycling decisions.”

But after surveying 1,332 young Americans, Cluttr found that a whopping 47% of 18- to 29-year-olds wouldn’t want to be romantically involved with someone who neglects to recycle. In addition, 45% would reject a person that uses an excessive amount of single-use plastic.

If that wasn’t eco-conscious enough, a whopping 69% of youths would boycott a brand for not adhering to green business practices, while 67% believed that global warming is a serious man-made threat. In fact, 71% even felt that the environment warranted more concern than the economy, which recently suffered its worst blow since the Great Depression amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Despite their enthusiasm for the environment, the so-called greenest generation is also one of the biggest contributors to the global electronic waste epidemic. The study found that “3 out of 5 people don’t know what e-waste means” while over half of the survey participants were oblivious to its toxic impact on the environment.

Even more alarming, 44% of the would-be eco-warriors don’t know how to “properly donate, resell or recycle tech” while “36% didn’t know if their items were recyclable,” according to the survey.

Nonetheless, millennials shouldn’t be too discouraged. Last month, a OnePoll survey of 2,000 Americans found that young people are the most likely to report making “green” decisions by an average of two more per day than baby boomers — although this phenomenon could just be due to the pathological need to share everything.