Ministry starts enforcing ban on single-use plastic bags in Qatar
Ministry organises introductory meeting on regulations of plastic bags utilisation
The Ministry of Municipality, represented by the Health Control Sections at all the municipalities across the country, started yesterday to enforce the ministerial decision No 143 for 2022, regarding the regulations of using plastic and ban companies and shopping centres and malls from using single-use plastic bags, and use instead biodegradable bags and environment-friendly bags.
Accordingly, the health inspectors across all municipalities carried out a number of inspection campaigns on different food outlets and shopping centres to ensure that they are complying with such rules and regulations. Further, violation reports will be issued to any outlet that would not abide by proper use of standards for the use of plastic bags and the wrappings of human foods.
In particular, Doha Municipality Health Control Section has carried out a large-scale inspection campaign that covered all the food outlets and retailers and shopping centres within the municipality to ensure the proper implementation of the ministerial decision.
The campaign was carried out with the participation of 50 inspectors after an intensive awareness campaign was carried out on the issue over the past period.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of
Municipality organised an introductory meeting on the regulations of using plastic bags based on the decision of HE the Minister of Municipality No. 143 of 2022 which bans the utilisation of single-use plastic bags by institutions, companies, and shopping malls in packaging, wrapping, providing, handling, holding or transferring the products and goods with their different types starting from Nov 15.
During the meeting, an introductory meeting was held on the environmental damages arising from the use of single-use plastic bags, and the available alternatives were offered as stipulated by the ministerial decision.
Director of the Legal Affairs Department at the Ministry of Municipality Ahmed Yousef al-Emadi discussed the legal legislations pertaining to the recycling and waste treatment, public hygiene, and reduction of plastic use in pursuit of achieving the strategic goals of Qatar in conserving the environment and the optimal investment in waste recycling. Al-Emadi said that banning the use of plastic bags comes in the completion of the ministry’s efforts to legalise the legislative system relevant to the Department of Waste Recycling and Treatment, indicating that the ministerial decision determined a set of regulations in this framework, including banning the single-use plastic bags in all institutions, sales and marketing points which were identified by the decision as bags that are mainly made of plastic and less than 40 microns thick, used once as packaging material, before being discarded or recycled.
During the introductory meeting, the experiences of other countries that banned the utilisation of these bags were discussed, including their impact on the development of the environmental situation.
For their part, the attendees underscored the importance of this decision in reducing the environmental pollution arising from the use of these bags, adding that many factories have replaced these bags with other biodegradable and multi-use bags to achieve sustainability within Qatar National Vision 2030.
The ministerial decision stipulates the replacement of the single-use bags with the multiuse, biodegradable bags, or bags that are made of paper or cloth (textiles) that are evidently biodegradable, while a symbol shall be printed on the plastic bags, according to their category, indicating that they are biodegradable, reusable, or recyclable.