Red Sea is banning single-use Plastic starting June 1st
calendar_monthApril 01, 2019
Due to the significant environmental damages resulting from the expansion of the single use plastic which leads to the killing of hundreds of thousands of mammals, birds, and fish globally and for sure the Red Sea has its own share, HEPCA acted on submitting a proposal to H.E. General Ahmed Abdullah - Governor of Red Sea to ban the single-use of plastic, hence, the decree no. 167 for year 2019 was issued effective June 1st.
The decree is to protect the threatened and endangered species which are severely affected by ingestion, starvation, suffocation, drowning, entanglement and toxicity from plastic remains which affects the human health accordingly.
The ban of the single-use of plastic bags will apply on any food related outlets within the Red Sea like restaurants, coffee shops, supermarkets, groceries, butchers, fisheries, fruits and vegetables shops and pharmacies, and will also ban single-use plastic cutleries used in food and beverage in Restaurants & Coffee shops as well as Safari and daily boats such as knives, plugs, plastic hooks, cups and dishes except for the usage of the heavy duty garbage bags.
In addition to the above, the Red Sea governorate will not give authorization for plants to produce plastic bags within the city.
HEPCA will be launching an awareness campaign about the negative impacts of plastic on marine life and human health, in addition to on ground activation with events, giving lectures for public and private schools, clean-up campaigns for islands, beaches and underwater in collaboration with schools, diving centres, and the red sea community.
Our campaign will also target hotels and resorts in the region to support and encourage reduction of plastic usage in those facilities. In collaboration with Red Sea Hotels, Grand Siva hotel has been certified by HEPCA for as the first hotel at Hurghada to apply this strategy in 2018. Our aim is to spread it all over the Red Sea.
