Dr. Yasmine Fouad the Environment Minister, announced the Ministry's axes in the field of reducing use of plastic bags during gradual stages starting from conducting studies, developing policies, raising awareness and creating community participation.
Meanwhile the Minister launched an initiative to receive the proposals of civil society organizations and youth in the field of reducing use the plastic.
Dr. Fouad stressed the importance of raising society’s awareness of the dangers of using plastic bags and of preserving the environment. She explained that her ministry was prioritising the participation of civil society in changing people’s behaviour.
She praised an initiative launched by Red Sea Governor Ahmed Abdallah, who banned the use of single-use plastic bags in the governorate in August.
Initiative to Ban Use Plastics
On other hand, she reported that the ministry in cooperation with the Centre for Environment and Development for the Arab Region and Europe (CEDARE) had held a session to raise awareness of the use of non-degradable plastic bags during the UN Biopersity Conference in Sharm El-Sheikh in November 2018.
The session had shed light on the hazards of single-use plastic bags as an environmental pollutant threatening biopersity and having negative repercussions on the environmental, health, economic and social levels.
Reports released by the Ministry of Environment in Egypt point out that decreasing the use of plastic bags is part of the new system created for waste management preceding the drafting of a new law to be discussed in parliament, to increase people’s awareness of the threat plastic poses to the environment.
Noteworthy, Egypt’s waste output is 16.2 million tons, of which plastic represents 6 %, that is the equivalent of 970,000 tons of plastic waste, of which 45 % is recycled and only 5 % reused.
Also, many African counties have launched initiatives to put an end to the plastic bag hazard. In 2008, Rwanda became one of the first African countries to impose a complete ban on thin plastic bags as part of its Vision 2020 plan for sustainability. Currently, plastic bags that are used in Rwanda are made from biodegradable materials.
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