More than 172 million single-use plastic grocery bags have been prevented from entering the environment as per Environment Agency Abu Dhabi

More than 172 million single-use plastic shopping bags have been kept out of the environment, according to the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD). Since the ban's implementation on June 1 of last year, an average of 450,000 single-use plastic bags have been prevented from being used every day.

In an effort to decrease the use of single-use plastic goods and promote a culture of sustainability and recycling in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, the Environment Agency—Abu Dhabi published its comprehensive Single-Use Plastic Policy in 2020.

According to EAD, the majority of the emirate's retail establishments vowed to uphold the Abu Dhabi Single-Use Plastic Policy on May 24 of last year, a few days before the ban. These included Waitrose, Spar, Choithrams, LuLu Hypermarket, Abu Dhabi Co-operative Society, Carrefour, and LuLu Hypermarket. ADNOC shops and other significant merchants have gotten behind the programme. By providing workable and cost-effective alternatives and charging consumers a minimum of Dh0.50 for each reusable plastic shopping bag, the shops demonstrated their commitment to ending the usage of single-use plastic bags.

Following this, the merchants noticed a remarkable 90–95% decrease in the usage of plastic bags. This indicates that just five reusable bags, out of the 100 that were formerly utilised at checkout counters of stores before the ban, are now being used by customers.