Mass Consumers and Journalists Consulted on Plastic Bags Reduction

In line with the community dialogue mandated by the SwitchMed Demo Project on the Reduction of Plastic Bags Consumption, CEDARE in partnership with the Ministry of Environment organized two consultation sessions on “Challenges of Shifting to Plastic Bags Alternatives”. The first targeted mass consumers of plastic bags and the second was intended for media agents; both were held in CityStars InterContinental Hotel, Cairo on 23 May, 2017.The first session was attended by Carrefour-Al Majed AlFuttaim Retail, Al Mansour Holding Company (Metro & Kheir Zaman), HyperOne, Ragab Sons, AZADEA, Seif Pharmacies, in addition to project partners from the Ministry of Environment, the Plastic Technology Center and the Project’s technical consultants. The objective of the consultations was to assess the views of consumers and gather information on the social and economic impacts that might result from reducing the use of single use non-degradable plastic bags and the anticipated consequences on each and on the Egyptian market as a whole.

Knowing that Egyptians consume annually around 12 billion plastic bags estimated at 2 billion Egyptian pounds and the disastrous dangers caused by plastic bags at all levels, participants discussed economic aspects as: cost of plastic bags, green image, regulations, etc. Some of the participating corporations abided by SCP guidelines such as AZADEA & Carrefour, whose case as using biodegradable plastic was closely explored as part of an international chain with environmental directives against plastic bags.

As key players of quite high consumption rate, large FMCG chains, hyper markets, restaurants, pharmacies, franchisers and clubs are considered by the Project as one of the main stakeholders. Partnering with mass consumers in lobbying for less consumption and shifting to a rather sustainable alternative is one of the most important accelerators that might serve the overall purpose. To influence Egyptians’ behavior to decrease their current consumption rate and improve consumers’ attitude towards resources by using an environment-friendly alternative bag is a good start.

Possible scenarios and policy measures, which will be incorporated in the recommendations and findings of the policy brief, were discussed with participants. Some of them are:

• Whether to Ban plastic bags in Cairo or for some market segments
• To levy plastic bags use in Cairo (except biodegradable bags)
• Voluntary targets for each market segment
• Should it be phased / gradual transition from voluntary to mandatory? Are we ready to go directly to mandatory measures?
• What are the recommendations for incentivizing the utilization of alternatives to single use plastic bags in Egypt?
• Would you provide special offers or discounts for clients to encourage change of behavior?

On another note, the second session welcomed a number of media representatives specially journalists whom were shocked by the presentation on the study of the Plastic Technology Center and interacted with their viewpoints of Egyptians’ culture and consumption patterns. Their vision about the community feedback, level of engagement and responsiveness to the upcoming initiative was significant.