Sunset Beach cleaned of plastic pellets

Volunteers and surfers from Pirates Surf Rescue have completely cleaned Sunset Beach in Dubai of plastic waste thrown ashore. Last weekend, bags of plastic pellets destined for making bottles and bags washed up on one of Dubai’s most popular beaches.

Supposedly, they fell out of a container into the sea. The entire Sunset Beach was strewn with plastic ‘pellets’. Hundreds of people joined in to clean up the beach – they helped the local municipality’s staff to clean up and clear the sand.

The 2021 X-Press shipwreck brought 1,680 tonnes of plastic granules to Sri Lanka’s shores which are shipped around the world by sea. Up to 53 billion pellets could enter the oceans each year.

In December 2022, the Dubai municipality started leaving messages in the sand for beach lovers. This way the authorities decided to draw public attention to the issue of cleanliness and protection of the environment.

Every morning when the beach is being cleaned, a special roller printer prints messages in the sand for beach-goers to raise their environmental awareness. One inscription reads: “Our environment is our responsibility”.

In addition, the municipality is delighting sunbathers with creative images of sea creatures – turtles, crabs and shells – to cheer them up. It is noted that messages are printed every day on all municipal beaches in Dubai.

The United Arab Emirates will impose a total ban on plastic bags from 1 January 2023, including their import, production and distribution. By 1 January 2026, along with this, the use of plastic utensils such as cups, plates, cutlery, containers and boxes, as well as spoons, forks, knives, straws and chopsticks will be banned.

Companies will be instructed to reduce the production of disposable materials for packaging cigarettes, wet wipes, balloons and other products. It is noted that the ban will not apply to polythene designed to preserve the freshness of products, as well as to exportable and re-exportable packaging. The measures taken in the UAE are aimed at protecting the environment from polyethylene contamination.

Source: The National

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