Bahrain's Ministry of Industry, Commerce, and Tourism has made an order Monday restricting the sale, manufacture, distribution, or importation of single-use plastic bags with a thickness of fewer than 35 microns.
The move marks the latest effort by an oil exporter to meet its emissions reduction and sustainability objectives. On September 19, the ban will take effect.
Bahrain's government news outlet did not say how the planned ban will be implemented, such as by issuing fines to distributors of the prevalent thin bags or taxing consumers for using them.
The policy, according to Minister Zayed bin Rashid Al Zayani, intends to promote environmental protection measures in order to curb the proliferation of plastic use and garbage.
He emphasized that the prohibition is in accordance with the government's goals of ensuring a sustainable environment while also reducing pollution.
According to him, the prohibition will exempt single-use plastic bags thicker than 35 microns, single-use plastic bags specifically for medical uses, and bags used for exporting.
Al Zayani stated that through the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Ministry has organized stakeholder engagement meetings, particularly with the private sector.
According to the results of the polls, all local factories intend to produce multi-use plastic bags with a thickness of more than 35 microns. Around 86% of these industrial facilities plan to continue producing plastic products that are exempted from the new legislation or solutions to the restricted single-use bags.
Many neighboring and industrialized countries have established similar rules to curb the propagation of plastic garbage, which poses a serious threat to the environment and wildlife, according to the minister.
The minister emphasized that the ministry will strive to take steps to protect environmental systems, emphasizing the importance of everyone's participation in moving forward with these initiatives to maintain environmental protection.
Bahrain's decision follows that of the United Arab Emirates' Dubai and Abu Dhabi, which recently announced that they would eliminate plastic bags with the goal of reducing trash and reducing greenhouse gas emissions produced by plastic bag manufacturers.
Last year, Bahrain, like the UAE and Saudi Arabia, declared its intention to attain carbon neutrality by 2060, a goal that remains hard to measure and, critically, does not imply a reduction in oil exports. The economy of the kingdom is based on petrodollars.
