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Dubai: Municipalities across the UAE are keeping a close eye on Dubai's move to halt the distribution of 14 million plastic bags.
Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah are all considering introducing similar initiatives, but are waiting to see how the scheme works in Dubai before adopting similar measures.
As part of Gulf News' continuing campaign on the impact of plastic bags, we speak to the emirates' municipalities about their plans to deal with them.
Hassan Al Taffaq, Director of the Environmental Department at Sharjah Municipality, said they had already set up a strategic plan to follow in Dubai's footsteps, which will be launched this year.
"As part of our strategic plan, we will invite private companies to participate in our recycling effort to reduce the waste of plastic bags," he said.
"We have already placed emphasis on public cooperation. Last year we set up more than 50 recycling units along Buhairah Corniche so residents could recycle paper and drinks containers," Al Taffaq added.
Fujairah Municipality said it was waiting to see whether any action on plastic bags would be workable and enforceable.
Engineer Mohammad Saif Al Afkham, Deputy Director of Fujairah Municipality said: "We're studying the introduction of similar ideas to reduce the use of plastic bags because of their negative impact on the environment.
"We are waiting to see how the move affects restaurants and supermarkets and whether there are steps we need to take before introducing new options."
Ras Al Khaimah Municipality will continue using plastic bags for the time being.
Authorities in the northern emirate said the situation would not change any time soon because officials consider plastic bags to be essential and believe many people would not give them up.
Mubarak Ali Al Shamsi, Director General of RAK Municipality, said they would wait to see if the experiments of others proved to be effective and friendly methods.
He said: "We are waiting to see if the higher UAE authorities will implement measures across the country. If this happens we will instantly implement them."
He added that for the time being plastic bags are necessary to get rid of garbage. "RAK Municipality distributes plastic bags to houses and shops. That will continue until official notices are sent stating otherwise," Al Shamsi said.
Gulf News tried to contact Abu Dhabi Municipality on several occasions but it refused to comment on the issue.
Your comments
Recycling will not work well until containers are set up at each building. Items for recycling are not dirty, so no need to put them in plastic bags, one can empty the bin directly into the recycling container. Modern recycling plants have an automated sorting procedure, so all that people have to do is to separate the items into recyclable and non-recyclable and put it into the correct containers.
Maryam
Sharjah,UAE
Posted: March 30, 2008, 17:09
I think we should minimise the use of plastic by providing free jute bags to customers if the customer purchases items more than Dh50, and the same bag can be reused.
Amit
Dubai,UAE
Posted: March 30, 2008, 14:28
Good work by Gulf News and Dubai Municipality. A noble suggestion is also to ban the use of aluminium cans for soft drinks. Go for glass bottles instead. Retailers should charge 50 fils per bottle as a safety deposit and replace these bottles any time a customer wants a fresh soft drink. It will be a hurdle in the beginning to carry glass bottles but in the long run it will help save the earth for future generations, with less waste. Dubai should have more lights out as there are many bright lights which can be switched off with no great affect to the workings, but in the longer run it will save Mother Earth.
Greens
Dubai,UAE
Posted: March 30, 2008, 11:08
I think the move is probably going to get a lot of resistance initially, but the UAE is on the right track to promoting paper bags or reusable bags. In many countries, most supermarkets offer plastic bags at an additional charge. This, for the most part, has minimised the number of plastic bags being used but also provides reasons to reuse paper bags or even use the shopping cart, as is, to carry purchases to the car.
Karishma
Abu Dhabi,UAE
Posted: March 30, 2008, 09:57
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