The fight against plastic has been more prominent in the last year, with social media advocates’ efforts really taking on the to show the harmful effects of using plastic to the environment.

Sustainability is at the forefront of debates, government discussions and social media activists- with photos of the ocean and turtles dying, the excess garbage in landfills caused plastic and in more recent times, the Amazon rainforest burning that has lead to the widespread of work going against the use of plastic.

A study by Surfers Against Sewage found that EVERY DAY approximately eight million pieces of plastic pollution contaminates the world’s oceans. Every single day.

Could you imagine the trillions of macro and micro-plastic pieces that now float in the ocean? The ocean is a very important part of our ecosystem and without it staying in its most pristine state, this could only mean the worst for our future, our children’s future and the future of the planet.

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One of many solutions? Supermarkets should start charging more for plastic so that people think twice next time

A mere 0.50 or even AED1 price point for plastic bag might not work for a city with residents that rely on ease of access and digitisation for everything.

So with Dubai’s futuristic modern approach- supermarkets shouldn’t actually just keep testing to see the difference after charging for plastic but remain consistent with the choice- that could potentially lead people to ditch plastic altogether and bring reusable non-plastic bags to all their grocery shopping trips.

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…Or go completely package free altogether

Although it isn’t limited to, plastic packaging on fruits and veggies, the selling of straws, plastic plates and utensils along with actual one-time use packaging in supermarkets is what add to the current plastic pollution issues we face

If supermarkets in other parts of the world were able to move towards plastic-free packaging, there’s no reason why starting with charging for plastic shouldn’t take place.

At this rate, it’s either or.

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Supermarkets like Carrefour in Dubai have already started but we need to motivate the rest to follow

Although regular plastic is still being distributed in Carrefour stores, most of the branches across the UAE encourage customers to use recyclable bags.

Other supermarkets have started leading the way, but we need to encourage that more corporations take part in eventually ditching plastic, and that starts with us as individuals- think of your choices.