UAE plans to phase out plastics

The United Arab Emirates will be free of non-biodegradable plastic bags and products by 2013, Obaid Al Matroushi, Director-General of the Ministry of Environment and Water, said.

Speaking on Ajman Radio 4 on the occasion of National Environment Day, Al Matroushi said the ministry would launch a month-long awareness drive across the country among students, farmers, fishermen and the general public on the dangers of non-biodegradable plastic.

He said the ministry had drafted a standards guide on bio-degradable plastics and their harmful effects on the environment. The items covered by these standards are essentially, but not limited to, flexible shopping bags and semi-rigid plastic packaging for food, magazines, consumer-durables, garbage bags, bin-liners for household use, shrink wrap, pellet wrap, cling film etc and other articles normally used over short periods and subsequently discarded. Al Matroushi said that according to a recent report, one in two camels die from ingesting plastic waste dumped in the UAE desert.

Ajman will be the first emirate to ban plastic bags from July 1, 2010.

Speaking to Khaleej Times, Khalid Al Hosani, Director of Health and Environment Section at the Ajman Municipality, said all plastic bag importers were urged to contact the municipality to re-register and provide data of their companies which would be included in the records. They must get written approval before importing any type of plastic bags.

The municipality would only allow oxo-biodegradable plastic bags meeting ministry’s standards, he said.

There are 48 plastic manufacturers in the UAE, who have been informed about the decision and were provided with the UAE standards guide.

Hypermarkets like Lulu and Carrefour have already reportedly stopped using non-biodegradable bags and are replacing them with alternative, bags made with “oxo-biodegradable” plastic that break down into non-poisonous materials in less than a year.

A top official at the MEW said that specifications for the additives to be used in the new plastic mixture was expected to be laid down by the end of year. “Plastic manufacturers must then comply with the specification, in line with the ministry’s nationwide drive to ban non-biodegradable plastic bags by 2013, for the protection of the environment.”

In Sharjah, a senior official at the Economic Development Department said the standards on bio-degradable plastics were being implemented from January 1 this year. – Khaleej Times

Fonte – UAE Interact de 07 de fevereiro de 2010

Foto – steve phillips