Tsunami of plastic bags in Tehran

TEHRAN,July 16(MNA)--Massive use of plastic bags by about 10 million citizens in Tehran created a tsunami of plastic garbage. Whatever you buy in a supermarket, even when it is a small tiny item is put in a plastic bag. So it is safe to say that both customers and shoppers show no interest in limiting the use of plastic bags. Now the point is how to manage the usage of plastic bags rather than having them banned from citizens. Mohammad Mojabi, an official at the Environment Protection Organization, says 8,000 to 14,000 tons of garbage is produced per day in Tehran, out of which 85 percent is plastic. In some occasions of the year like the fasting month of Ramadan or religious ceremonies like Ashura or the birth anniversaries of imams, the distribution of foods in disposable plates, by those who have made a vow to feed the poor, abounds one’s imagination. Experts say it takes up to 1,000 years for plastics to decompose. Environmental campaigners also say that shoppers use plastic bags for just 20 minutes on average. While this huge amount of plastic waste can bring great revenues to the municipality of Tehran, no practical step has been taken yet to separate plastic from other trash. It is not clear why a law concerning the management of waste, which one of its prerequisites was separating plastic from other wastes, has not yet been enacted. The law approved in November 2004 stated that sorting waste mainly plastic should be implemented by the end of the calendar year 1391 (March 20, 2013). The clause 4 of the law on management of waste explains that less waste should be produced. Yet the daily use of plastic and disposable plates, like forks, spoons, cups, bowls, etc, is on the rise. Unfortunately, despite the passage of these years no measures have been taken either in management of waste, or banning the use of plastic bags. Accordingly, until the end of 1392 (March 20, 2014) at least 85 percent of house waste had to be separated. In other words, neither an effective step has been taken in waste management nor limiting the use of plastic bags has come into play. Can the world without plastic be imagined? July 12 has been called the world without plastic; though many people across the world are using plastic bags incessantly without any feel of responsibility. This is shocking when experts say about 1 trillion tons of plastics are added to the stockpile of garbage in the world, which, in turn, create problems for agricultural land, animals, and the planet Earth as a whole. According to a UN report posted on the CNN website on June 23, ten to twenty million tons of plastic end up in the ocean each year, from litter, runoff from poorly managed landfills, and other sources. The report, titled Valuing Plastic, states that approximately $13 billion worth of damage is caused each year by plastic waste in the ocean. Fortunately, some countries like Rwanda, Eritrea, Uganda, Kenya, and Ethiopia have introduced laws limiting the use of plastic bags. What others have done In 1988, a flood hit Bangladesh and caused devastating damages to the country. Only later investigations showed that the plastic bags had blocked drains. To prevent such mishaps the country banned the use of plastic bags in 2002. To promote gross national happiness the tiny kingdom of Bhutan, a country in South Asia, banned the use plastic bags in 2007. To reduce costs and use of crude, China has also strictly limited the use of ultra-thin plastic bags. Since 2007 Hong Kong has also imposed environment taxes on producers of plastic bags. Many more countries, ranging from Italy to Rwanda, have also adopted bans or taxes on plastic bags. Ireland, which levied a tax on plastic bags in 1990, is considered a model success. In addition to all that, French MPs voted on June 26 this year to ban single-use plastic bags in supermarkets by 2016 to help protect the environment. The move came years ahead of a European directive. France is pushing through a law that is more ambitious than European Union efforts. Taiwan also stopped plastic bags in malls and banned disposable plates in restaurants. Even some customers who did not bring their carrier bags were fined. What have we done? The Tehran City Council approved a bill in May 2009 with the aim of reducing the use of plastic bags in shopping malls. However, due to lack of supervision not only the use of plastic bags and disposable plates has not been reduced but it has even been growing. Even in shopping centers under the supervision of city managers we are witnessing the rising use of plastic bags. Such inactivity has led to the rapidly increasing use of plastic bags and disposable plates in the country, especially in Tehran. We are hoping for a day in which Tehran, as the 25th largest city in the world, would be free of plastic bags.