TEHRAN – The Municipality of Tehran has decided to celebrate Plastic Bag Free Day on July 3 this year instead of July 12 in line with the global initiative.

International Plastic Bag Free Day aims to eliminate the use of plastic bags which may seem like a grocery shopping convenience, but they are also a huge strain on the environment. It can take up to 500 years for plastic bags to disintegrate, so they make up a large portion of what stays in our landfills and pollutes our waterways. 

“In order to promote the culture of avoiding plastic bags and keeping pace with the international initiative, the department of environment [of the municipality] decided to introduce July 3 [replacing July 12] as Plastic Bag Free Day in the country,” ISNA quoted Adel Khazaei, a municipal official as saying.

In Iran, plastic bags have the highest share of the total 4 million plastic waste generated annually.In Iran, plastic bags have the highest share of the total 4 million plastic waste generated annually, so that, it is time to say no to plastic bags.

Plastic bags constitute half a million tons of the whole plastic waste produced in the country annually. Every Iranian consumes an average of three plastic bags a day, 96 percent of which go directly into the trash bin.

According to the World Population Review 2021, Iran is ranked 17th in the production of plastic waste.

The report also claims that approximately 500 billion plastic bags are used worldwide, and plastic pollution is a global catastrophe caused by humans.

Payam Joharchi, head waste management office at the Department of Environment, announced in July 2020 that a bill to reduce the consumption of plastic bags, which is mentioned in 6 articles, has been prepared, focusing on incentive issues such as tax exemptions and aiming to reduce the production of plastic bags by 20 percent annually.

It also takes steps toward the production of renewable bags, given the importance of the issue of employment, it is planned to happen in six years.
Hossein Abiri Golpayegani, an environmental activist, also said that in order to reduce the consumption of plastic bags, it is necessary to implement deterrent policies such as increasing the price of plastic bags and making these items less available to the public.

MG