By Hauwa Ali
The Egyptian government has concluded plans to set up a biodegradable packaging factory for production of eco-friendly bags as efforts to reduce plastic waste.
Egyptian Minister of Environment, Dr.Yasmine Fouad, who confirmedthe development recently stated that Egypt has signed a contract with the U.S. to establish the factory to produce the environment-friendly bags from eggshell, instead of plastic.
According to her, The ministry will also supports about 3,500 other factories that produces single-use bags, in order to follow the environmental specifications to properly produce biodegradable bags.
These factories will reconcile their conditions to benefit from incentives for clean production, and the incentives also include new investments to establish factories to produce reusable plastic bags that decompose.
The Minister of Environment said that the state seeks to provide biodegradable bags, as the plastic bag that is currently used does not decompose until after 400 years.
She explained that important measures have been taken in the past to prevent the use of plastic bags, while confirming that the law warned against the use of single-use bags, and Article 27 of the law included a warning against the use of plastic bags.
According to the law, the manufacture, import or export of single-use plastic bags should be in accordance with the controls, requirements and technical specifications, which are issued by a decision of the Minister of Trade and Industry in agreement with the competent minister, and the decision may include a ban on the manufacture, import or export of the aforementioned bags if it its components include inputs or materials that may seriously harm the environment.
The new eco-friendly bags will help reduce the tonnes of plastic waste that pollute waterways in the North African country.
