Following a Federal Government decree that all plastic bags made anywhere in the United Arab Emirates must be biodegradable by 2013, the emirate of Ajman will aim to put this in place by the end of this year. Ajman is the smallest of the emirates at just 260 square km.
Turning Ajman's plastic industry into an eco-friendly one is ‘not a trial’, said the emirate's Environmental Protection department head, and Ajman Municipality Environmental Protection head said he hoped that within six months there would be no plastic bags littering the emirate's streets.
Inspections will be carried out and companies will have to the end of the year to comply or risk hefty fines. Biodegradable bags will need a municipality-approved sticker giving instructions on how to store and transport them. At a recent meeting of around 70 plastic bag manufacturers and importers in Ajman the audience was told that there was much work to do on the way to this end-of-year goal but that the decree must be complied with from day one.
Production of non-degradable bags is not permitted and a special pellet-sized ingredient must be added to the mix to help plastic bags break down over a period of time without leaving harmful residues. Wells Plastic and Eco-polymers are the companies that have been approved as suppliers of the granular additive.
The Ministry of Environment and Water is working to educate the public and manufacturers to accept the change to federal law.
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