RAFIF ESLEEM

Gaza- Azhar Tanboura, an official at the Joint Services Council for Solid Waste Management, has launched a campaign aiming to replace plastic bags with cloth ones due to the damage caused by the use of plastic bags to nature.

As part of the project, funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), young women and men raise awareness among people and store owners about the dangers of the excessive use of plastic to the environment, and give them cloth bags to use instead of plastic bags.

They pose a threat to the next generations

Azhar Tanboura told NuJINHA that citizens responded positively to this idea and women found the use of cloth bags easier because they could use cloth bags again after washing them. Azhar Tanboura thinks that plastic bags are like a time bomb and pose a threat to the next generations.

Young women and men have distributed three different sizes of cloth bags; small ones for students and employees, medium ones to be used for shopping and the large ones to be used during voyages and travels. “Thus, cloth bags can be used by everyone. The environment cannot accommodate plastic waste because it is non-biodegradable. The use of cloth bags protects our earth,” Azhar Tanboura said.

“When we tried to raise awareness about the dangers of the use of plastic bags in the shopping centers and stores, we noticed that people, especially women, were unaware of how plastic bags damage nature. When they learned the damage caused by plastic bags, they told us that they would use only cloth bags. Plastic waste poses a threat to everything such as plants, soil and groundwater. There are some types of plastic that can be recycled. Some families earn a living by recycling plastic products at the green workshop that was opened by a group of women in the southern Gaza Strip.”

The next step of the campaign is to visit big commercial stores and factories and educate them about using environmentally friendly bags. “We hope this campaign will spread in all Arab countries to reduce the use of plastic bags. Plastic bags affect the environment and human beings.”