Multiple approaches to the single-use plastic problem

Packaging MEA Editor Ben Daniel explores how plastic can take hundreds of years to degrade, which means there is no time to waste in reducing this impact.

For the sake of a few minutes’ conveniences, we add a pollutant to the world that can last for hundreds of years.

The statistics are damning: Across the world, consumers use more than 160,000 plastic bags per second. To meet this demand, 5trillion plastic bags are produced each year. To put this number in context, if all these bags were laid out side by side, they would circle the Earth seven times. And of these, fewer than 1% will be recycled.

That’s the unfortunate reality of single-use plastics, but it is at least a reality much of the world has now realised, with many countries discouraging or even outright banning them. In recent years, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman and Ghana have joined the fight in the MEA region.

Saudi Arabia introduced oxobiodegradable bags in 2017. These bags degrade within 180 days, as opposed to the 50-1,000 years that traditional plastic bags can survive (after being used for an average of 20 minutes). But this was a superficial measure, as it simply meant the bags broke down into microplastics.

“We need to think about a ban of all single-use consumer plastics, from bags to bottles to drinking cups in the region – except, of course, for medical and critical needs,” said Muna Abusulayman, goodwill ambassador for the UN Development program. But UAE and Oman have taken a sterner stance. Dubai imposed a tariff of 25 fils on all plastic bags handed out by shops from July 1, while Oman enacted a ban on single-use plastics from January 1, 2021, as well as fines for violators. Dubai and Abu Dhabi look to follow Oman’s example within two years.

These efforts will promote economic, environmental and social sustainability while building an ecosystem that preserves natural re

“Sustainability is imperative at the global level, reinforced by changing the behaviour of society in a way that reduces the environmental footprint of individuals,” the government-run Dubai Media Office said in a statement.

In the UAE alone, 11billion plastic bags are consumed annu- Sustainability is imperative, reinforced by changing the behaviour of society in a way that reduces the environmental footprint of individuals,” the government-run Dubai Media Office said in a statement. In the UAE alone, 11billion plastic bags are consumed annually, according to the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment.

This is equivalent to 1,182 plastic bags per person per year, well above the global average of 307 bags per person annually. Examining the full life cycle The challenge for eco-conscious shoppers is that alternatives to single-use plastic bags also leave an environmental footprint.

A recent study by the UN Environment Program analysed the findings of life cycle assessments (LCAs) on shopping bags. An LCA assesses the environmental impacts of a product or service from, essentially, cradle to grave. This includes raw material extraction, production, logistics and distribution, use and end-of-life.

The study found the environmental ranking of bags varies depending on which criteria you consider. For example, one type of bag may score well in cutting down on litter but be a poor option when it comes to water and land use to make it.

Conclusion
The big question is, how many times should a person use a bag before it becomes more environmentally friendly than a single-use plastic bag? Experts say – cotton: 50-150 times; durable, non-woven polypropylene: 10-20 times; low-density polyethylene: five to 10 times and paper: four to eight times. That said, in the retail business, the consumer is king and what we all as consumers decide and adopt will have a lasting impact. This gives us an opportunity to meet on November 8 as Packaging MEA host a special panel discussion at our PRIME Awards 2022. We invite all stakeholders within the industry to join us for an engaging three-hour session with retailers, brand owners, converters, recyclers and government bodies sharing and exploring ways to address this growing challenge with credible and viable solutions.