The Environment Public Authority (EPA) of Kuwait announced on October 19 the start of a campaign to distribute one million environmentally friendly bags to cooperative societies in the country’s six governorates. The move is part of a campaign to raise public awareness about environment protection and minimize the use of harmful plastic bags, said director of EPA’s public relations and media department Sheikha Al-Ibrahim, Times Kuwait reports.
Director of Public Relations and Media Department at the EPA, Sheikha Al-Ibrahim, told the Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that this campaign comes within the authority’s efforts for a better environment. These bags, she said, were distributed to a group of cooperative societies in the governorates, with the support and cooperation of the Environmental Protection Fund to urge citizens and residents to use the environmentally friendly bags and avoid plastic and everything that pollutes the environment.
Al-Ibrahim explained these bags contain ethylene (vinyl) that is completely soluble in hot water and is used in the paper industry. It also consists of calcium carbonate, which is the primary material for rocks in the sea and has no effect on the environment. She added these bags do not contain any plastic material and are characterized by strength and flexibility, as one bag can hold 10 kilos weight; it is non-toxic and does not harm living organisms, is not harmful to the soil but to the contrary, enriches fertility.
She stressed on the need to raise environmental awareness and improve environmental behavior in line with the policy adopted by developed nations to protect the environment since it has adverse effects on land, sea and air. She stated that coordination will be made with all cooperative societies to replace plastic bags with environmentally friendly bags. This step reflects Kuwait’s commitment to its international conventions for better health and a clean environment.
EPA carries out this campaign in cooperation with the fund of environment protection with a view to encouraging the public to use the eco-friendly or ecobags instead of the traditional ones that are hazardous to the environment, she said. Ecobags are made of organic materials and alcohol (fennel) that degenerate in hot water and leave no harmful impacts on air, soil, or water.
After the end of the ongoing campaign, EPA will coordinate with cooperatives countrywide to replace the traditional bags with eco-friendly ones, Ibrahim added.
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