Perspectives of Consumers Towards Plastic Bags Usage in Green Marketing Consept: A Sample in Belgium

Abstract

Today, environmental concerns of consumers have increased along with the harm that plastics have on the environment. Plastic bags are causing major destruction on earth with the reasons of not dissolving in the environment for many years, polluting the environment with toxic chemicals when dissolving and being carcinogenic. When the governments, who are acting on social responsibility awareness, are taking measures on preventing these destructions, it is necessary for the businesses to carry out the marketing activities with the same awareness. Some businesses have awareness of environmental concerns of the consumers. These are applying the ways like charging for plastic bags, using soluble bags in a shorter time in environment and adding cloth bags to their product portfolios within the frame of social marketing approach. The purpose of the study is to learn the attitudes and behaviors of consumers, who are living in Belgium, towards using plastic bags. In this context, data were gathered through survey from 344 consumer who are detected with convenience sampling method. The data were analyzed by frequency and chi-square analysis with SPSS 16.0 package program. As a result of the research, it is stated that the legal regulations are effective in the long term; informative trainings should be given for the continuity of these effects, and women's attitudes are higher in terms of anti-use of plastic bags.