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HEPCA holds a workshop on "the challenges and risks of using plastic bags" in collaboration with the Minister of Environment and the Governor of Red Sea

HEPCA organized a workshop on "the challenges and risks of using plastic bags" in collaboration with H.E. Dr. Yasmine Fouad, Minister of Environment and the H.E. governor of the Red Sea, General Ahmed Abdullah,  head of the environmental affairs Dr. Mohamed Salah and a group of officials in the ministry of the environment, health, endowments, and education within the Red Sea.

Dr. Yasmine started the workshop by thanking the governor of the red sea for the great efforts made in the red sea governorate to preserve the natural resources that would ultimately attract tourism. She also thanks HEPCA for its great efforts in managing the solid waste operation in the city and the advanced technology used in our Solid Waste plant and also commended the efforts of our Mooring system to protect the coral reefs from the wrong practices by boats’ crew.

Dr. Yasmine Fouad praised the Red Sea’s decree to ban the single-use plastic shopping bags effective June first, emphasizing the need to integrate the environmental protection planning into the development processes to be able preserve the natural resources for future generations for the sustainability. H.E. stressed on the importance of raising community awareness on the environmental hazards resulting from the use of light plastic bags on the environment and human health.

"Environment is life" this is the word that general Ahmed Abdullah started his speech with, emphasized on the great collaboration with HEPCA to protect the environment and explain the reasons behind banning of single-use plastic and its dangers, adding that the governorate is cooperating continuously with the HEPCA and representatives from the community to raise citizen s' awareness on the importance of preserving the environment and the natural resources with through workshops in schools and governmental  institutes as well as providing heavy bags as alternatives to residents, he also  stressed that a fine will be applied on violators starting from August 1st.

H.E the Governor of Red Sea declared that environmental conservation is part of the tourism industry, saying that his aim is to make Hurghada a “Green City” to attract more tourists, He thanked Siva Grand Hotel for being the first hotel in Hurghada to completely get rid of plastic in their hotels and listened to the management explaining  the experience and steps followed to completely eliminate plastic.

The Director of industrial pollution control presented a study on plastic industry in Egypt,  successful experiences of European countries in preventing plastic shopping bags,  she also proposed policies to reduce the use of plastic and the precautional methods to eliminate it, and suggested to produce  “Environmental Friendly” shopping bags and create specifications of an alternative bag and recycle plastic.

The Managing Director of HEPCA concluded the workshop with an introduction on HEPCA’s Solid Waste management system in the Red Sea - which is considered as the 3rd best organization in Egypt - that started back in 2011 in Marsa Alam and then spread to cover the whole Red Sea.

She also elaborated on the efforts exerted by HEPCA in the “No Plastic campaign” in all fields; Social media video ads/info graphs, clean-up campaign for beaches and protected islands in collaboration with schools, corporate companies, and individuals from the community, events and workshops, and provide alternatives.