Abu Dhabi: A daily cut of 500,000 single-use plastic bags

According to the Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi (EAD), the emirate’s effort to reduce single-use plastic goods has seen remarkable success. A team of inspectors from EAD, the Department of Economic Development, and the Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority has started to conduct joint inspections of sales outlets in Abu Dhabi since the ban on single-use plastic bags was put into effect in Abu Dhabi in June.

The tours are aimed at keeping an eye on compliance to the prohibition and inform retailers about the value of switching from single-use to reusable bags that meet the technical requirements authorized by the Abu Dhabi Quality and Conformity Council, as reported by the Abu Dhabi Media Office. These inspections showed a very high compliance rate with the ban and the use of approved alternatives.

According to research conducted from retail establishments, the number of single-use plastic shopping bags has decreased by more than 90% since the ban's implementation, amounting to a daily decrease of half a million bags since June 1. To present, and continuing, this corresponds to more than 87 million bags.

More than 80 per cent of outlets are committed to levying voluntary fees, including the main retail outlets in Abu Dhabi, which have signed a voluntary declaration to support the ban, and to secure alternatives, resources and financing to support environmental protection, and reduce the number of plastic materials sold across Abu Dhabi outlets. In line with their commitment, the outlets charge a fee for each alternative reusable plastic shopping bag, with the aim of avoiding the use of bags whenever possible and reusing them when necessary.

Dr Shaikha Salem Al Dhaheri, secretary general of EAD, said: “The Single-Use Plastic Policy in Abu Dhabi addresses the issue of plastic pollutants that leak into the environment and cause damage. We are exploring the use of sustainable solutions to solve this challenge in a manner that fully supports the government’s long-term vision for a greener future.”

She added: “By reducing the consumption of single-use plastics, the policy will also reduce emissions in line with the UAE’s Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Agreement. Furthermore, the achievement of the policy’s objectives will also help the waste sector divert 80 percent of municipal solid waste in Abu Dhabi away from landfills.”

In this regard, EAD consistently conducts education programs aimed at governmental organizations and businesses in the private sector and gives them the resources they need to create implementation strategies.

The agency was successful in getting a booklet called "Becoming Free of Single-Use Products: A Guide for Abu Dhabi Government" distributed to all government agencies, reaching more than 3,000 government workers who were present at the introductory sessions. The booklet is available in both Arabic and English.

A total of 3,550 persons participated in the 15 awareness sessions that were also held, which were aimed at various young demographics, institutions from the public and private sectors, as well as from the business and industrial sectors. In addition, 25 awareness-raising materials regarding the Mission to Zero campaign were created and distributed to schools and EAD partners from retailers, online merchants, and delivery services

Besides this, seven additional actions were added to EAD's BAADR application, which was recently launched by the organization as a cost-free, eco-friendly smartphone app and is intended to alter Abu Dhabi residents' environmental behavior and inspire them to take the lead in the process of positive transformation.

In order to develop a recovery system based on catalysts that will help collect and recover roughly 8,000 tonnes of plastic bottles over the course of the next five years, which will go directly to the emirate's recycling sector, the agency also concentrated on partnerships with more than 30 private and public entities, according to the Abu Dhabi Media office.

To lessen the negative effects single-use plastic trash has on the environment, one of the main goals of the policy and its methods is to minimize the consumption of these materials. Compared to 7.25 million million plastic bottles in 2021, more than 30 million plastic bottles were recovered in 2022. Moreover, more than 10 tons of waste are collected weekly, or around 850,000 plastic bottles each week.

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