Supermarkets said they are geared up to implement new rules to tackle plastic bag waste, as they urge shoppers to choose long-life alternatives.
Abu Dhabi’s ban on single-use bags will begin on Wednesday, June 1, and Dubai will introduce a mandatory 25 fils ($0.07) charge for each single use bag from July 1.
Several of the country’s biggest chains said shoppers were ready to embrace the move, which was shown to be highly effective in Europe and Africa.
Even a nominal charge of 25 fils - equivalent to the 5 pence charge in bags in the UK - is expected to be highly effective.
People have been so used to getting these bags for free that it’s more of a convenience issue than anything. We will be encouraging people to bring their old single-use plastic bags into us to be recycled
Sophie Corcut,
sustainability manager for Spinneys and Waitrose
This week, supermarket chains were promoting the sale of 'bag-for-life' alternatives, which are typically made of recycled plastics and permitted under the rules. Carrefour offers a woven plastic bag for Dh2.50, a canvas foldable bag for Dh9.50 and a heavy duty juco bag - a mix of jute and cotton - for Dh10.
Lulu supermarkets likewise offer Dh2.5 heavy duty plastic bags. Spinneys and Waitrose offers similar.
Bernardo Perloiro, chief operating officer in the GCC for Majid Al Futtaim Retail, which runs the franchise for French supermarket giant Carrefour, said the charge marked "responsible retail".
“As part of Majid Al Futtaim, Carrefour is committed to phasing out single-use plastic across all our operations by 2025 and becoming net positive in carbon and water by 2040.”
Plastic bags were 'too convenient'
Sophie Corcut, sustainability manager for Spinneys and Waitrose, said the public would soon get used to the new rules.
“From the conversations we’ve been having with customers and from feedback on social media, I think the response is going to be overwhelmingly positive,” Ms Corcut said.
“I think we’ve been prepared for this for many, many years to be honest.
“We previously ran a trial in Waitrose, charging 25 fils per single-use plastic bag and it was big success.”
She said she the biggest hurdle to the scrapping of the single-use bags in the UAE was convenience rather than affordability.
“Other countries with lower income per capita have successfully banned single-use plastic bags,” said Ms Corcut.
“People have been so used to getting these bags for free that it’s more of a convenience issue than anything else.
“That might be where the change is a little uncomfortable for some as the focus in the UAE has understandably often been on providing a great customer experience.”
Joining the crowd
Kenya introduced a ban on plastic bags in 2017 to alleviate the country’s issue of severe flooding caused by plastic bags blocking waterways and drainage systems.
The country’s legislation prohibits the manufacture and distribution of plastic bags, with offenders risking a four-year prison sentence or a $40,000 fine.
Thailand issued a ban on the sale of plastic bags in all supermarkets and stores in 2020.
There has also been a total ban in Rwanda since 2008, with policies including luggage searches at borders to confiscate any plastic bags being brought into the country.
Tariffs on the use of such bags are also in place in more than 30 countries globally, with total or partial bans being enforced by more than 90 nations.
Almost 300 million tonnes of plastic pollution is created each year globally, according to figures released by the UN Environment Programme.
Only nine per cent of all plastic waste ever ends up being recycled with the rest finding its way to dumps, landfills and other natural environments.
It is estimated by the UN that oceans could contain more plastic than fish by 2050, unless current trends are reversed.
Enshrined in law
The fact the ban has been written into law will also ensure its success, Ms Corcut said.
“In Dubai we will have to implement the charges for the bags or else there will be penalties,” she said.
“It is not voluntary, everyone has to comply and there will be constant inspections.”
She added that while there is not a total ban in Dubai, with charges for each single-use bag being implemented, her company is committed to phasing out their use completely.
“We are planning on not having any single-use plastics in any of our stores by the end of the summer,” she said.
“We will be encouraging people to bring their old single-use plastic bags into us to be recycled.
“Customers who also bring their own bags to use in Dubai will also get 25 fils reduced off their bill too.”
The charge on single-use bags in Dubai does not apply solely to plastic either.
The tariff covers any plastic, paper, biodegradable plastic and plant-based biodegradable materials that are 57 micrometres thick or less.
A micrometre is one thousandth of a millimetre.
Shoppers who choose not to bring their own bags to carry their shopping home will have the option to buy longer-use bags in store, which are less harmful to the environment.
This policy is being implemented by most of the major retailers across the country.
Other supermarket chains in the UAE have welcomed to move to tackle the problem of single-use bags.
“There might be a few hiccups on the day when the ban is first introduced, but nothing major,” Vijayan Nandakumar, director of marketing and communications with Lulu, said.
“That’s understandable but I think consumers are aware and also support the ethos of this move.
“We’ve had an awareness campaign for some time and people seem to be getting behind it.”
PULITZER PRIZE 2020 WINNERS
JOURNALISM
Public Service
Anchorage Daily News in collaboration with ProPublica
Breaking News Reporting
Staff of The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ky.
Investigative Reporting
Brian M. Rosenthal of The New York Times
Explanatory Reporting
Staff of The Washington Post
Local Reporting
Staff of The Baltimore Sun
National Reporting
T. Christian Miller, Megan Rose and Robert Faturechi of ProPublica
and
Dominic Gates, Steve Miletich, Mike Baker and Lewis Kamb of The Seattle Times
International Reporting
Staff of The New York Times
Feature Writing
Ben Taub of The New Yorker
Commentary
Nikole Hannah-Jones of The New York Times
Criticism
Christopher Knight of the Los Angeles Times
Editorial Writing
Jeffery Gerritt of the Palestine (Tx.) Herald-Press
Editorial Cartooning
Barry Blitt, contributor, The New Yorker
Breaking News Photography
Photography Staff of Reuters
Feature Photography
Channi Anand, Mukhtar Khan and Dar Yasin of the Associated Press
Audio Reporting
Staff of This American Life with Molly O’Toole of the Los Angeles Times and Emily Green, freelancer, Vice News for “The Out Crowd”
LETTERS AND DRAMA
Fiction
"The Nickel Boys" by Colson Whitehead (Doubleday)
Drama
"A Strange Loop" by Michael R. Jackson
History
"Sweet Taste of Liberty: A True Story of Slavery and Restitution in America" by W. Caleb McDaniel (Oxford University Press)
Biography
"Sontag: Her Life and Work" by Benjamin Moser (Ecco/HarperCollins)
Poetry
"The Tradition" by Jericho Brown (Copper Canyon Press)
General Nonfiction
"The Undying: Pain, Vulnerability, Mortality, Medicine, Art, Time, Dreams, Data, Exhaustion, Cancer, and Care" by Anne Boyer (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
and
"The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America" by Greg Grandin (Metropolitan Books)
Music
"The Central Park Five" by Anthony Davis, premiered by Long Beach Opera on June 15, 2019
Special Citation
Ida B. Wells
RESULTS
5pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Maiden (PA) Dh 70,000 (Dirt) 1,600m
Winner: Samau Xmnsor, Abdul Aziz Al Balushi (jockey), Ibrahim Al Hadhrami (trainer)
5.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 70,000 (D) 1,600m
Winner: Ottoman, Szczepan Mazur, Abdallah Al Hammadi
6pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 70,000 (D) 1,800m
Winner: Sharkh, Patrick Cosgrave, Helal Al Alawi
6.30pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 85,000 (D) 1,800m
Winner: Yaraa, Fernando Jara, Majed Al Jahouri
7pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 70,000 (D) 2,000m
Winner: Maaly Al Reef, Bernardo Pinheiro, Abdallah Al Hammadi
7.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh 70,000 (D) 1,000m
Winner: Jinjal, Fabrice Veron, Ahmed Al Shemaili
8pm: Handicap (PA) Dh 70,000 (D) 1,000m
Winner: Al Sail, Tadhg O’Shea, Ernst Oertel
THE BIG THREE
NOVAK DJOKOVIC
19 grand slam singles titles
Wimbledon: 5 (2011, 14, 15, 18, 19)
French Open: 2 (2016, 21)
US Open: 3 (2011, 15, 18)
Australian Open: 9 (2008, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 19, 20, 21)
Prize money: $150m
ROGER FEDERER
20 grand slam singles titles
Wimbledon: 8 (2003, 04, 05, 06, 07, 09, 12, 17)
French Open: 1 (2009)
US Open: 5 (2004, 05, 06, 07, 08)
Australian Open: 6 (2004, 06, 07, 10, 17, 18)
Prize money: $130m
RAFAEL NADAL
20 grand slam singles titles
Wimbledon: 2 (2008, 10)
French Open: 13 (2005, 06, 07, 08, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20)
US Open: 4 (2010, 13, 17, 19)
Australian Open: 1 (2009)
Prize money: $125m
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
RACE SCHEDULE
All times UAE ( 4 GMT)
Friday, September 29
First practice: 7am - 8.30am
Second practice: 11am - 12.30pm
Saturday, September 30
Qualifying: 1pm - 2pm
Sunday, October 1
Race: 11am - 1pm
The specs
Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission: seven-speed
Power: 720hp
Torque: 770Nm
Price: Dh1,100,000
On sale: now
Company Profile:
Name: The Protein Bakeshop
Date of start: 2013
Founders: Rashi Chowdhary and Saad Umerani
Based: Dubai
Size, number of employees: 12
Funding/investors: $400,000 (2018)
SPECS
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%202-litre%20direct%20injection%20turbo%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%207-speed%20automatic%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%20261hp%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%20400Nm%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%20From%20Dh134%2C999%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Zayed Sustainability Prize
The biog
Favourite film: Motorcycle Dairies, Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday, Kagemusha
Favourite book: One Hundred Years of Solitude
Holiday destination: Sri Lanka
First car: VW Golf
Proudest achievement: Building Robotics Labs at Khalifa University and King’s College London, Daughters
Driverless cars or drones: Driverless Cars
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%20ASI%20(formerly%20DigestAI)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202017%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Quddus%20Pativada%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%2C%20UAE%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Artificial%20intelligence%2C%20education%20technology%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunding%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%243%20million-plus%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20GSV%20Ventures%2C%20Character%2C%20Mark%20Cuban%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
