Abu Dhabi’s ban on single-use plastic bags is a step in the right direction

Abu Dhabi’s ban on single-use plastic bags is a step in the right direction

Only drastic measures like total bans on the material will work to protect the environment from further degradation

Published: Tue 31 May 2022, 9:31 PM

The UAE is taking sustainable retail seriously with Abu Dhabi’s ban on single-use plastics coming into force from Wednesday. It is the responsible way to go shopping with the environment under pressure and our lives at risk from plastic pollution. Here’s why. Single-use or any plastic doesn’t really break down.

They simply break up into microplastics and remain in the environment from where humans and animals inhale or unwittingly consume them. Several countries, including the UAE, are concerned about the rampant use of this material and have resorted to bans, levies, and penalties. While the UAE government has taken the first step at the retail level, residents have a responsibility to limit plastic use at home while they carry reusable bags when they head to stores.

There are cloth and recycled plastic options available. It’s back to basics in a sense, shopping the old-fashioned way before our tryst with plastic happened more than five decades ago that hasn’t gone too well when we look back at what we have done to nature.

In the UAE, the war on plastics has