Abu Dhabi Environment avoids the use of 172 million plastic bags in a year

The Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi has succeeded in avoiding more than 172 million single-use plastic shopping bags and preventing them from leaking into the environment and polluting them, a year after the implementation of the ban on the use of single-use plastic bags in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

And the authority stated in a statement yesterday that since the implementation of the ban began on the first of June 2022, the use of plastic shopping bags has been reduced by an average of 450,000 plastic bags per day.

The implementation of the ban came within the framework of implementing the single-use plastics policy in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, which was launched by the authority in 2022, in an initiative to reduce dependence on single-use plastics, and to promote a culture of sustainability and recycling in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi.

Retailers affirmed their commitment to ban the use of single-use plastic bags, by offering reusable alternatives with nominal fees, as a fee of no less than 50 fils was charged for each bag of alternative multi-use plastic shopping bags, indicating that they recorded a significant decrease of between 90 and 95% in the number of used plastic bags.