Ninh Binh farmer says no to plastic bags

The provincial Farmers' Union on July 8 labeled Song Van safe farm produce shop with "no use of plastic bag shopping point" to raise public awareness of the impact of single-use plastic products and plastic bags on the environment. Chairman of the union Dinh Hong Thai said that many consumers have seen plastic bags as important invention of the mankind, and they have been popular among the community for years. However, the "white pollution" has cause critical influence to people's health and the environment. Under the province's Plan No.61/KH-UBND on the campaign against plastic waste, the union has mobilised and convinced safe food chains in the locality to replace plastic bags and single-use products with environmentally-friendly ones like paper and cloth bags, and natural wrapping such as banana and lotus leaves.

In the coming time, the union will work more to promote the "say no to plastic bags" campaign so as to change the consumers' habit to protect the environment.

According to Nguyen Van Tien from the Song Van safe farm produce shop, his shop is now using available banana leaves instead of plastic bags to wrap vegetables and fruits. Natural wrapping helps raise the consumers' curiosity while popularising the campaign among the locals, he said.Vietnamis among the top 20 countries with the largest amount of waste, equal to the United States or Malaysia, and higher than the average level in the world. Each year, about 8 million tonnes of plastic waste are disposed in the ocean, of which 1.8 million tonnes come from Vietnam. On average, each Vietnamese person releases 1.2 kg of solid waste into the environment per day, of which 16 per cent is plastic waste, according to the University of Georgia report. The country aims to reduce 65 percent of non-biodegradable plastic bags used at supermarkets and shopping malls by 2020 compare to 2010. By 2026, it targets zero non-biodegradable plastic bags.

(Source: VNA)