Croatian non-governmental organisations fighting plastic pollution on Monday urged the Ministry of Economy to adopt rules on packaging, packaging waste and single-use plastics and put a stop to their excessive manufacture and use.

“We demand that the Ministry pave the way in which we as society will act responsibly with regard to the use of Earth’s limited resources, especially at the present time of climate change, and put an end to the throwaway culture,” Green Action’s Ana-Marija Mileusnic said.

The NGOs staged a performance at the Central Railway Station in Zagreb as part of the Plastic-Free July campaign to mark International Plastic Bag Free Day, observed on 3 July.

“Persons of different backgrounds and ages, wrapped up in plastic packaging and plastic bags, symbolise a dystopian, yet very realistic scenario,” Mileusnic said.

She warned that the Ministry continued to show a low level of ambition, being late in adopting rules and failing to implement the existing laws. “The government is allowing industry excessive manufacture and distribution of such products.”

For years, civil society organisations in Croatia have been calling for a systematic solution to discourage the throwaway culture.

“The Ministry’s lack of vision, giving in to pressure from industry and tardiness in adopting regulations show a realistic vision of a future in which we will indeed start suffocating in plastics,” said Dragica Matekovic-Rubic of the Association for Independent Media Culture.