Having to pay for plastic bags will encourage customers to use paper and recyclable alternatives

Would you think twice about asking for a plastic bag at the supermarket checkout counter if it cost you extra?

HH Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Ali Al Nuaimi – better known as Ajman’s ‘Green Sheikh’ – certainly thinks so.

Speaking at an event to mark the anniversary of social awareness campaign Drop It, he remarked, “If they had to pay Dhs1, people would get rid of them,” reported The National.

He posited that if shops began charging even a solitary Dirham per bag, customers would be turned off using them and seek alternatives in the form of paper or recyclable bags.

While there is currently no law in place enforcing this, the Ajman ruler’s nephew said that he “would support a law, but a lot of business are going to be resistant.”

According to a report in The National the UK and Ireland saw usage of plastic bags fall by up to 90 per cent when a law was put in place requiring shops to charge the equivalent of 25 fils and 50 fils per bag.

 

The Drop It campaign was launched in March of last year to raise awareness in encouraging residents of the UAE to replace water in single-use bottles with filtered tap water. You can find out more information via the official website.

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Image: Getty