The UAE's decision to impose further restrictions on single-use plastics comes amid growing global concern about their impact on the environment.
From the 14 million tonnes of plastic that ends up in the world’s oceans each year to the vast amounts dumped in landfill — potentially breaking down into tiny particles that contaminate soil and waterways — the problem is vast.
Each year, according to figures published by the Earth Day charity, the world produces five trillion plastic bags and 500 billion plastic cups, while people get through 1.2 million plastic bottles a minute.
Many campaigners are therefore keen to see governments across the globe take a tougher line on plastics.
The UAE has said that from January 1, 2024, plastic bags will be banned. It follows the introduction last summer in Dubai of a 25 fils charge and a ban on most bags in Abu Dhabi. Sharjah was already due to outlaw plastic bags next year.
In addition, a ban on the importation of plastic cutlery, drinks cups, styrofoam and boxes takes effect from January 1, 2026.
A new perspective on plastics
The measures send a message to the private sector that they need to do more to reduce their impact on the environment, said Habiba Al Marashi, co-founder and chairperson of Emirates Environmental Group. Efforts so far to reduce plastic bag use, such as the 25 fils charge, have been shown to work, she added.
“In retail outlets, shopping malls, supermarkets and hypermarkets you can see it’s been very, very effective, with people now bringing their bags and reusing bags,” she said.
“The supermarkets don’t even have plastic bags on the counter. Only if a person asks are they provided. It’s played a major role in changing the perspective of people.”
The UAE’s measures are not a “fully fledged ban on single-use plastics”, said Kenzie Azmi, a campaigner at Greenpeace Mena, but “an excellent first step” towards an eventual ban on eliminating plastics altogether, except for industries such as medicine or food transport that require them.
How much of a step forward it represents will depend, she said, on issues such as whether the plastics targeted are the most polluting forms, or just the ones that are easiest to eliminate.
“These types of bans can be very effective if we know which industries are most polluting, start with those, and provide sustainable alternatives to the banned materials, such as refill and reuse, that protect the welfare of people dependent on those sectors,” she said.
In the 70 years that it has existed, plastic has transformed consumer culture, in some ways for the better, such as by improving convenience and helping to preserve food.
But single-use plastics continue to litter the natural environment for centuries.
Decades of damage to the environment
WWF, the environmental organisation, says that takeaway coffee cups have a lifespan of 30 years, plastic straws of 200 years and plastic bottles and cups of 450 years.
While HDPE (high density polyethylene) and PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastics are widely recycled, most plastics cannot be, and much recyclable plastic is thrown away.
In Australia, for example, less than 12 per cent of the three million tonnes of plastic produced each year gets recycled.
“While systems have been developed for recycling single-use plastics, the reality is that every year more and more single-use plastic is placed on the market,” said Dan Eatherley, a UK-based environmental consultant who has carried out projects on reducing plastic waste for organisations including Google.
When disposing of plastic that does not get recycled, one option is incineration, he said, but while this provides energy, it also emits greenhouse gases.
“It can go into landfill, but it’s just sitting there,” Mr Eatherley said. “You’re creating waste that later generations will have to deal with.”
Plastic and other waste in landfills may leach toxins, while plastic items released into the environment can harm wildlife and be broken down into microplastics which find their way into crops, human bodies and even rain.
Animals may mistake plastic waste for food. Many camels in the UAE have died after accumulating plastic made from bags and rope in their stomachs. These polybezoars, as they are called, can weigh more than 50kg.
Caps on consumption required
To really get to grips with plastic pollution, governments need to take measures that reduce the amount of plastic produced and sold, according to Steve Hynd, policy manager of City to Sea, an organisation that campaigns against plastic pollution.
“The most important thing is an overarching strategy that includes legally binding limits on consumption and production,” he said.
“Underneath that there’s a series of policy measures, for example deposit-return schemes.”
Deposit-return schemes see customers receive money off a subsequent purchase when they return an empty bottle. Among a growing number of initiatives worldwide, Coca-Cola runs a scheme in Brazil where plastic bottles can be used up to 25 times before being recycled.
“They are particularly hard-wearing plastic bottles that they use,” Mr Hynd said. “The solutions are there — you just need the political will and business drive to make it happen.”
Such “reuse” measures fit into an overall “waste hierarchy”, at the top of which sits what campaigners see as the best option — reducing plastic use.
The second component involves reusing plastic or other materials, as this consumes much less energy than recycling, which is the third part of the “reduce, reuse and recycle” hierarchy.
Bans such as the one the UAE is introducing are seen as being part of a “reduce” strategy.
In England a ban on single-use plastic knives, forks and plates has also been announced this week, although this has been criticised for leaving out, for example, single-use bottles.
Much can be done to help businesses to reduce plastic use, Mr Hynd said. His organisation, for example, worked with a hotel chain, advising it to no longer automatically put a straw in drinks served to customers.
And instead of having a box of straws available for people to take from, the company was advised to put the box beneath or at the back of the serving area, so that only customers who asked for a straw use one.
Such simple but effective “reduce” measures, he said, should be applied to all single-use materials, whatever they are made from.
“Even paper or cardboard or bamboo, they all have an environmental footprint,” he said.
New forms of bio-based packaging, such as compostables, are sometimes seen as preferable to “traditional” plastic from fossil fuels. But Mr Eatherley said because current waste management systems were not set up to deal with them, in practice they could hinder recycling.
“Trying to prevent waste from arising in the first place should be the priority,” he said.
Greenpeace’s Ms Azmi said other measures that could reduce plastic waste included finding sustainable alternatives to materials considered to be disposable, and “holding corporate polluters accountable”.
Wealthier nations should, she suggested, be required to lead a transition to zero waste and help other countries make similar changes. Such initiatives could be included in a global plastics treaty, Ms Azmi said.
Greater efforts to develop recyclable plastic should also be a focus, Ms Al Harashi said, but ultimately people need to return to a society that does not throw so much away.
“We need to go back to old ways which were more environmentally friendly,” she said. “This habit of being a disposable society is very dangerous.”
Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
Dunki
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Rajkumar%20Hirani%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Shah%20Rukh%20Khan%2C%20Taapsee%20Pannu%2C%20Vikram%20Kochhar%20and%20Anil%20Grover%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League quarter-final, second leg (first-leg score):
Manchester City (0) v Tottenham Hotspur (1), Wednesday, 11pm UAE
Match is on BeIN Sports
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
The biog
Favourite hobby: taking his rescue dog, Sally, for long walks.
Favourite book: anything by Stephen King, although he said the films rarely match the quality of the books
Favourite film: The Shawshank Redemption stands out as his favourite movie, a classic King novella
Favourite music: “I have a wide and varied music taste, so it would be unfair to pick a single song from blues to rock as a favourite"
Defence review at a glance
• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”
• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems
• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.
• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%
• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade
• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels
WOMAN AND CHILD
Director: Saeed Roustaee
Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi
Rating: 4/5
Six large-scale objects on show
- Concrete wall and windows from the now demolished Robin Hood Gardens housing estate in Poplar
- The 17th Century Agra Colonnade, from the bathhouse of the fort of Agra in India
- A stagecloth for The Ballet Russes that is 10m high – the largest Picasso in the world
- Frank Lloyd Wright’s 1930s Kaufmann Office
- A full-scale Frankfurt Kitchen designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, which transformed kitchen design in the 20th century
- Torrijos Palace dome
MATCH INFO
AC Milan v Inter, Sunday, 6pm (UAE), match live on BeIN Sports
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
More from Rashmee Roshan Lall
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Getting there
Flydubai flies direct from Dubai to Tbilisi from Dh1,025 return including taxes
Guide to intelligent investing
Investing success often hinges on discipline and perspective. As markets fluctuate, remember these guiding principles:
- Stay invested: Time in the market, not timing the market, is critical to long-term gains.
- Rational thinking: Breathe and avoid emotional decision-making; let logic and planning guide your actions.
- Strategic patience: Understand why you’re investing and allow time for your strategies to unfold.
German intelligence warnings
- 2002: "Hezbollah supporters feared becoming a target of security services because of the effects of [9/11] ... discussions on Hezbollah policy moved from mosques into smaller circles in private homes." Supporters in Germany: 800
- 2013: "Financial and logistical support from Germany for Hezbollah in Lebanon supports the armed struggle against Israel ... Hezbollah supporters in Germany hold back from actions that would gain publicity." Supporters in Germany: 950
- 2023: "It must be reckoned with that Hezbollah will continue to plan terrorist actions outside the Middle East against Israel or Israeli interests." Supporters in Germany: 1,250
Source: Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution
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GULF MEN'S LEAGUE
Pool A Dubai Hurricanes, Bahrain, Dubai Exiles, Dubai Tigers 2
Pool B Abu Dhabi Harlequins, Jebel Ali Dragons, Dubai Knights Eagles, Dubai Tigers
Opening fixtures
Thursday, December 5
6.40pm, Pitch 8, Abu Dhabi Harlequins v Dubai Knights Eagles
7pm, Pitch 2, Jebel Ali Dragons v Dubai Tigers
7pm, Pitch 4, Dubai Hurricanes v Dubai Exiles
7pm, Pitch 5, Bahrain v Dubai Eagles 2
Recent winners
2018 Dubai Hurricanes
2017 Dubai Exiles
2016 Abu Dhabi Harlequins
2015 Abu Dhabi Harlequins
2014 Abu Dhabi Harlequins
Company profile
Name: Back to Games and Boardgame Space
Started: Back to Games (2015); Boardgame Space (Mark Azzam became co-founder in 2017)
Founder: Back to Games (Mr Azzam); Boardgame Space (Mr Azzam and Feras Al Bastaki)
Based: Dubai and Abu Dhabi
Industry: Back to Games (retail); Boardgame Space (wholesale and distribution)
Funding: Back to Games: self-funded by Mr Azzam with Dh1.3 million; Mr Azzam invested Dh250,000 in Boardgame Space
Growth: Back to Games: from 300 products in 2015 to 7,000 in 2019; Boardgame Space: from 34 games in 2017 to 3,500 in 2019
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
'Doctor Strange in the Multiverse Of Madness'
Director: Sam Raimi
Cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Elizabeth Olsen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Benedict Wong, Xochitl Gomez, Michael Stuhlbarg and Rachel McAdams
Rating: 3/5
British Grand Prix free practice times in the third and final session at Silverstone on Saturday (top five):
1. Lewis Hamilton (GBR/Mercedes) 1:28.063 (18 laps)
2. Sebastian Vettel (GER/Ferrari) 1:28.095 (14)
3. Valtteri Bottas (FIN/Mercedes) 1:28.137 (20)
4. Kimi Raikkonen (FIN/Ferrari) 1:28.732 (15)
5. Nico Hulkenberg (GER/Renault) 1:29.480 (14)
The bio
Date of Birth: April 25, 1993
Place of Birth: Dubai, UAE
Marital Status: Single
School: Al Sufouh in Jumeirah, Dubai
University: Emirates Airline National Cadet Programme and Hamdan University
Job Title: Pilot, First Officer
Number of hours flying in a Boeing 777: 1,200
Number of flights: Approximately 300
Hobbies: Exercising
Nicest destination: Milan, New Zealand, Seattle for shopping
Least nice destination: Kabul, but someone has to do it. It’s not scary but at least you can tick the box that you’ve been
Favourite place to visit: Dubai, there’s no place like home
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
RACECARD%20
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UK-EU trade at a glance
EU fishing vessels guaranteed access to UK waters for 12 years
Co-operation on security initiatives and procurement of defence products
Youth experience scheme to work, study or volunteer in UK and EU countries
Smoother border management with use of e-gates
Cutting red tape on import and export of food
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Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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1.
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United States
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2.
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China
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3.
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UAE
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Japan
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5
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Norway
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6.
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Canada
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Singapore
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Australia
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Saudi Arabia
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South Korea
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Bert van Marwijk factfile
Born: May 19 1952
Place of birth: Deventer, Netherlands
Playing position: Midfielder
Teams managed:
1998-2000 Fortuna Sittard
2000-2004 Feyenoord
2004-2006 Borussia Dortmund
2007-2008 Feyenoord
2008-2012 Netherlands
2013-2014 Hamburg
2015-2017 Saudi Arabia
2018 Australia
Major honours (manager):
2001/02 Uefa Cup, Feyenoord
2007/08 KNVB Cup, Feyenoord
World Cup runner-up, Netherlands
