Icelanders use a total of 50 million plastic bags each year. A campaign to encourage consumers to stop using plastic bags at least one day per week was launched today.
Photo: Zoë Robert/Iceland Review.
The campaign aims to raise awareness of the negative impacts of plastic bags on the environment and economy and get people to stop using plastic bags on Saturdays.
Campaigners point out that a total of 800,000 liters of oil is used to produce the 50 million bags used in Iceland each year. They argue that by cutting the number of plastic bags used Iceland could save on foreign exchange. Campaigners also put forth that most plastic bags are only in use for an average of 20 minutes while they take hundreds of years to break down.
Organizer of the Plastic-free Saturdays campaign, Disa Anderiman, says the project is something that all Icelanders can contribute to. “This is something that everyone can take part in. Because this is such a big problem, if we say: ‘do not use plastic!’ it is more difficult than if we just think that every step counts. If we do not use plastic on Saturdays then we are achieving a lot,” she told ruv.is.
ZR
