Last summer, the Municipality of Jbeil took the decision to ban plastic bags to become more environmentally friendly.
The decision came with asking the owners of establishments, shops, restaurants, and grocery stores to replace plastic bags with eco-friendly ones that are made of biodegradable material or recyclable fabric by the end of 2018.
The procedure resulted from the country’s garbage crisis, to which the government hasn’t yet found a solution. In fact, the most sustainable method to get things back to normal on Lebanese streets is to recycle and use eco-friendly materials.
More than 6 months have passed since Jbeil’s Municipality decided to act on the garbage problem and it seems the positive outcome is starting to happen!
According to the municipality’s own statistics, about 60 percent of the businesses of Jbeil have already committed to stop using plastic bags.
Two of the area’s largest local supermarkets, Jbeil Supermarket, and Hage Supermarket have both complied, offering their shoppers biodegradable bags. However, we did recently visit both supermarkets and couldn’t confirm the use of eco-friendly bags.
The mayor, Wissam Zaarour, aware that not all of Jbeil’s businesses have started the new plastic-free procedure, said he was assembling a list of all businesses that have yet to eliminate plastic bags.
“Before the holidays, the majority of households received this bag with a brochure inside explaining the negative impacts of plastic on the environment,” Zaarour told the Daily Star, proudly holding up a reusable cotton bag bearing the municipality’s logo.
Ecological awareness is becoming more common in Lebanon especially after the yet to be solved garbage problem.
Personal initiatives and small group’s programs are of major importance in the fight against the ecological problem Lebanon is facing.
Jbeil gives us hope that recycling and plastic-less policies are on their way to every municipality’s plan of actions!
