This is a very good achievement for the government, Department of Environment (DOE) chief Ali Salajeqeh, said on Thursday, ISNA reported.

According to studies, the higher the thickness of the plastic bag, the easier it is to handle waste and the more recyclable it is.

Following the Fifth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-5.2) took place online and in Nairobi from February 28 –March 2, the plastic removal resolution was approved.

This resolution was created from the combination of four proposed resolutions. According to this, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and countries sought to develop a binding agreement and instrument regarding the reduction of plastic pollution in all forms and all places (land and sea).

Over the past year, with the cooperation of all institutions, stakeholders, and the private sector, the initial draft of this regulation was worked on in the form of eight clauses in the field of issues such as monitoring the production and consumption of plastic bags, reducing the production of plastic bags from the source and the encouragement and punishment ways was compiled.

In other words, there are taxes to prevent the use of plastic bags and incentives for the production and use of plastic bags in this regulation.

Currently, it is in the stage of interaction and reaching an understanding with the Ministry of Industry.

If this regulation is implemented, during a five-year process, factories and units producing plastic bags must change their methods for the production of renewable plastic bags. Units that produce plastic bags with a thickness of more than 25 microns include duties and taxes, and bags with a thickness of below 25 microns are removed from the production process. In stores, there should be a place to encourage people to refuse to use plastic bags.

Nature spends 500 to 900 years decomposing each plastic bag. As a result, the person who uses plastic bags also has to pay this cost.

Over 1 million tons of plastic bags produced annually

In Iran, over 1 million tons of plastic bags are produced annually, while its shelf life is less than 10 minutes, but they remain in nature for hundreds of years.

Plastic bags were first invented by Alexander Parks in 1856, and in a short time, they were able to expand their territory to the rest of the world and have many devastating effects. The world has certainly been affected, so the United Nations has designated July 11, 1974, as World Plastic Day, to be a flip for countries to reduce the production and consumption of plastic bags.

The average lifespan of each plastic bag is less than 10 minutes, while remains between 100 and 500 years in nature, statistics show that 1 million plastic bags and 5 trillion disposable plastic bags are used in the world every minute.

According to research conducted in Iran, 3,000 tons per day and over one million tons of plastic bags are produced annually, although these figures are approximate, it is very thought-provoking.

Today, one of the most important environmental problems in the country is the mismanagement of waste, which incurs a loss of 448 trillion rials (nearly $1.7 billion) annually.

Annually, more than 61 million tons of various types of waste are produced in Iran, according to the DOE, an estimated 10 to 17 percent of the total produced waste is recycled. While in developed countries this number reaches up to 70 percent.

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Speaking at an international conference on promoting polymer products exports in Tehran on Monday, Masoud Jamali said: “We are top exporter of polymer products to Armenia and the second biggest exporter of such products to the Republic of Azerbaijan.”

Jamali noted that the mentioned conference has been held with the aim of exploring issues and challenges in the polymer industries and to discuss ways of increasing exports.

“In this conference, we have focused on empowering and informing the businessmen and traders active in this sector,” the official said.

As IRNA reported, introducing Iran’s polymer export capacities and opportunities, identifying new target markets, and getting acquainted with the laws and regulations of the mentioned countries were among the topics explored in this conference.

According to Reza Tofiqi, the secretary of the conference, one of the best ways for boosting non-oil exports, and especially polymer exports, is by signing trade agreements with other countries.

“In recent years, a preferential trade agreement has been signed with the Eurasian Economic Union, which covers a significant number of the items,” Tofiqi said.

He said that 60 percent of the items in the agreement are related to the polymer and plastics industries, adding that if traders have enough knowledge in this regard, they can supply part of the union’s $4.5 billion imports of such products, while currently, Iran exports only $600 million of the mentioned commodities to the union.

Tofiqi further noted that Pakistan imports $2.2 billion of polymer products a year and said: “Iran ranks sixth among the top polymer exporters to this country with only $103 million of exports; the country accounts for five percent of Pakistan’s total imports, while Iran has a 20-year agreement with this country.”

According to the official, government bodies should reconsider the trade of polymer products with other countries like Pakistan in order to include these products in the list of items with tariff reductions.

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