REGULATING and reducing plastic usage, Supreme Council for Environment (SCE) chief executive Dr Mohammed Bin Daina noted that Ministerial Order Number 11 for the year 2019 with respect to the technical regulations for plastic products came into effect on July 21, 2019.
The order was to regulate and phase out the use of plastic bags.
The first phase was to focus on single-use plastic bags as well as banning the import of non-biodegradable plastic bags.
Later phases would witness a permanent ban on the use of plastic bags at certain malls and supermarkets.
It has been 18 months and still in almost every shop they still offer plastic bags free of charge, flimsy single-use bags.
Some are made from stronger so-called oxo plastic (apparently allowed by the SCE). However, it is still plastic – an even more dangerous plastic.
The term “oxo-degradable” is just an appealing marketing term.
Oxo-fragmentable plastics are conventional plastic materials with artificial additives that do not biodegrade but merely fragment into small pieces (become the feared microplastic) that remain in and potentially harm the environment and endanger recycling and composting.
Fragmentation is not the same as biodegrading.
Fragmented plastics can accumulate toxic chemicals such as PCB, DDE and others from the environment and act as transport medium in marine environments.
Such persistent organic pollutants in the marine environment were found to have negative effects on marine resources. Seafood is staple here.
We are a group of islands; most of our potable desalinated water comes from the Arabian Gulf, so how much microplastic do we consume?
We eat, drink and breathe between 74,000 and 121,000 microplastic particles each year depending on age and sex, new research suggests.
Those who exclusively drink bottled water rather than tap water can add up to 90,000 plastic particles to their estimated annual total especially water that is transported in plastic bottles in our desert heat; drinking tap water brings it down by 90 per cent.
Research shows that some particles are small enough to enter our tissues, where they can trigger an immune reaction, or release toxic substances and pollutants absorbed from the environment, including heavy metals.
We really need a total ban on all types of single-use plastic including oxo plastics!
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