The survey was carried out in June by the Croatian member of the European Parliament, Davor Skrlec, the environmental conservation organisation WWF Adria and the non-governmental organisation Friends of Animals. It involved over 20,000 people, including the Croatian MEPs, members of the Croatian Parliament, mayors, local government units, civil society organisations, public institutions and the private sector, Skrlec said in a statement this week.
The purpose of the survey was to actively engage as many Croatian citizens on social networks as possible in encouraging one another to stop using disposable plastics for 30 days and to raise awareness of easily available alternatives.
The online survey was carried out among 1,550 respondents, of whom 96% said they were willing to replace all types of plastic objects for single use with ecologically acceptable alternatives.
The organisers of the survey called upon retail chains in Croatia to offer their customers alternatives to single-use plastics.
Skrlec said that public awareness was changing across the globe and "now the turn has come for big players such as corporations and governments to considerably reduce plastics production."
He noted that at the start of this year China stopped importing plastic waste, adding that this presents a big problem to the biggest plastics exporters because now they do not know what to do with millions of tonnes of plastic waste.
"This is a strong message to our economy, which should turn to innovations and eco-design to avoid further accumulation of plastic waste in our environment and our sea. Developing new business models will lead to creation of new competitive industries which are an inevitable future, and Croatia can have an advantage there," Skrlec said.