Ministry of Commerce issues new shopping bag standards in Oman

Muscat: The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has issued a proposal to adopt international standards on the import and manufacture of shopping bags.
This comes as a joint ministerial effort to reduce the negative effects of plastic on the environment. According to the new proposal, shopping bags will be used as fertilisers.
A meeting was held between the Ministry of Environment and Climate Affairs (MECA), the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI), the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MoAF) and Oman Environmental Services Holding Company S.A.O.C (be'ah).
“We have created these standards for bags which are environmentally friendly as they can be converted into fertilisers or compost,” explained Nadia Al Siyabi, head of the chemical and petroleum products specifications department at MOCI.
Engineer Khamis Al Mafraji, head of the Fertiliser Department at MoAF, said: “The standard specifications proposed by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry have shown that there are no side effects on the use of such compost on the environment.”
“MoCI will hold workshops for manufacturers, importers, and distributors to explain the provisions of this regulation, and to apply the new standards on shopping bags, in order to reduce the environmental hazards of plastic products and to monitor the factories’ compliance with environmentally-friendly products,” Al Mafraji added
Dr. Mehab Al Hinai, director of the Environmental Excellence Centre at bea’h, said, “However, we need to raise awareness among customers to ensure they don’t mix this plastic with other waste.”
The meeting was held at the MECA, under the chairmanship of Dr. Mohammed Al Kasbi, Assistant Director of the Chemical Materials Department.
Al Kasbi said: “The Ministry seeks to enact a legislation that limits the use of plastic bags to prevent their impact on the environment in order to protect human health and marine organisms, and this great attention to consumer protection is one of the priorities of the Sultanate’s social and economic policy.”