Dubai: Eco-warriors, businesses hail charge for single-use plastic bags from July 1

Dubai: Eco-warriors, businesses hail charge for single-use plastic bags from July 1

Each minute, two million single-use plastic bags are handed out at stores worldwide, studies show.

Published: Tue 8 Feb 2022, 4:57 PM

Eco-warriors and businesses in Dubai say the move to levy a charge on single-use plastics is the best thing to have happened for environmental conservation in the UAE.

The plastic menace is playing havoc with our land, oceans and rivers and environmental champions, teachers, businesses, and community groups told Khaleej Times it’s the everyday choices in our lives that ultimately affect the environment, the climate, and plant and animal life.

Sanju Rao, founder member of Swap With Alternatives to Plastics (SWAP), says: “This is a good step towards making shoppers pause before mindlessly accepting the innumerable single-use plastic shopping bags they take home. It would be more effective if the price per bag was at least Dh1. It will pinch initially… but people should know that out of the 380 million tonnes of plastic produced worldwide, only 9 per cent gets recycled, while a shocking 91 per cent is floating around in our waters and air and will be there for some 400 years or more. So, we have no choice but to cut back on plastic usage.”

Rao adds another suggestion. “Supermarkets