The use of plastic bags when purchasing food - a consumer survey

Plastic is a material without which it is almost impossible to imagine life today. The most common are disposable plastics (plastic bottles, straws, ear sticks), plastic packaging for food products and plastic bags. The biggest problem is the inadequate disposal of waste and the decomposition of plastic into a smaller piece - microplastic that is found everywhere in the environment as well as the human and animal organism. In order to reduce the amount of plastic waste, some countries have introduced complete bans on the use of disposable plastic bags, while others, such as Croatia, have introduced charging for bags thicker than 50 microns (lightweight plastic carrying bags), but very lightweight plastic carrying bags (thinner than 15 microns) are still provided free of charge, and at such points of sale there must be a visible sign of the rational use of these bags marked as: Use the bags sparingly. In this paper, I will present the results of an online survey distributed among the population of the Republic of Croatia. 302 respondents participated in the survey. The aim of the study was to determine the use of plastic bags when buying groceries as well as consumer attitudes about plastic food packaging. The research showed that most of the respondents are aware of the dangers of plastic waste for the environment and that they largely use cloth bags instead of plastic ones. Since in Croatia, as in other countries, there is still no alternative to most plastic packaging, respondents primarily rely on the practicality and availability of packaging and then on environmental acceptance.