Plastics are considered one of the most hazardous industrial substances affecting human health and the environment. Their real danger lies in being resistant to microbial degradation as well as containing dioxin compound which causes cancer.


What is Plastic Made From?
Plastic is made from primary petrochemicals derived from petroleum. Plastic bags are made from polyethylene, which is one of the polymers or refined compounds that consist of long chains of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen that react together to make plastic bags. Such materials take hundreds of years to leave our environment.

What Does Everyone Use So Much Plastic?
Look around you and you can find plastic everywhere, including at home and in the office. Plastic offers us:

• Great variety and adaptability
• Light weight and low fuel consumption during the transfer process.
• Strong durability and resistance to chemicals, water, corrosion, rust and fracture.
• Electrical and thermal insulation.
• Low production costs.

Why is Plastic Dangerous?
We use billions of different plastic materials and bags every year. However, we need to stop and think about the harm this is causing our environment and our health.

• Plastic is harmful to our environment since the moment of its production. It uses non-renewable sources of energy, such as oil and natural gas.
• Incorrect disposing of plastic, either by burning or by burying it, greatly affects the environment, because of the toxic gas emissions that lead to cancer. When a plastic bag is buried, it may take hundreds of years to degrade.

 Preserving and packing food in plastic could be dangerous for your health because due to the different permeability degrees of the gases and vapor, some of its content or colors could reach the food, especially those affected by temperature. Such materials shouldn't be used to pack hot food. In this case, using glass would be better. However, transparent thin plastic, used for packing the food before keeping it in the fridge, some of its components could reach the food especially that has butter and cheese because fats could lead to dissolving plastic substances.
 Plastic is not degradable. Thus, any amount of it buried underground could lead to the formation of lumps that never degrade even after 100 or 200 years. Such lumps accumulate and form an insulated layer preventing water and fertilizers from reaching the lower layer of the ground, which threatens the fertility of the soil.
 Plastic bags form about 57% of the garbage leading to a disposal problem either through burning or burying them. Burning plastic accumulates toxic gases in the atmosphere.
 Even when plastic degrades after thousands of years, its toxic substances will still leak to the soil, underground water and the streams, from which animals drink.
 Due to their light weight, plastic bags easily fly to distant places and accumulate in the channels and drains blocking them.
 Plastic bags in our seas and oceans could cover coral reefs and prevent them from receiving sun rays and the renewable water currents that carry food and oxygen.
 Turtles eat plastic bags thinking it is jellyfish, which leads to their suffocation and death. Plastic bags could also block the digestive canals of some animals, such as the camels, goats and gazelles. Animals are often found decomposed, yetthe plastic bag remainsin their stomachs.
 Plastic bags floating in the ocean hinder the operating machines of ships.
 Plastic bags contribute indirectly to climate change because manufacturing them depends on natural non- renewable resources like petroleum.
 Plastic bags are one of the most common items of debris found on our coastal areas during clean-up campaigns.


What Can I Do to Help?
Everyone can help reduce the pollution caused by the consumption of plastic bags.

The solution to this problem requires the participation of all parties, including plastic bag manufacturers, importers, retailers and customers.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!


- Replace plastic bags with fabric or jute ones.
- Use pots and bottles made of glass instead of plastic.
- Avoid refilling plastic bottles or freezing them.
- Reuse plastic bags more than once.
- Learn to read the symbols and numbers marked on plastic materials. Each number stands for a particular type of plastic and indicates the extent of harm and the possibility of re-usage.

Are Paper Bags Better than Plastic Bags?
Paper bags are less harmful to the environment but they are not an ideal solution because many trees are cut down to make this paper. So if we all turned to paper bags and used them excessively the way we use plastic ones, we would destroy the world's forests in record time.

- Recycling bags is not an economic solution as it costs more than primary production. Thus, we should replace the plastic and paper bags with environmental friendly substances like fabric to be used many times.

Studies indicate that reusing the bags for 4 times reduces 18% of using traditional plastic bags which decreases the emissions of greenhouse gases 20%, however reusing the bags 20 times will decrease 82% of using plastic ones.

Did You Know?
• The United Arab Emirates (UAE) consumes 1 billion plastic bags annually and produces 300,000 tons every year. In 2007, Abu Dhabi used 1,870,874 kg of plastic bags.

• Some supermarkets in the UAE have realized the environmental danger of plastic bags and offer customers plastic bags made of substances mixed with corn flour to degrade. Other supermarkets offer linen or jute bags for a low price.
• Each square mile of the ocean includes about 46,000 pieces of plastic.
• Approximately about 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags are consumed throughout the world.
• More than a million plastic bags are used per minute.
• Millions of plastic pieces end up in the trash every year.
• Many countries have banned plastic bags or charge customers a fee to use plastic bags to reduce their excessive use.