U.A.E. Waitrose introduces a plastic bag charge

The British retailer Waitrose (operated locally by Fine Fare Food Market) has been the 1st grocery retailer in the United Arab Emirates to set up a €0.06 per single-use plastic bag from June 2018. Two weeks later, the grocer said it used 97,000 fewer single-use plastic bags in its 5 stores in Abu Dhabi during the period. 35,000 bags were used instead of 132,000 in the same period one year ago, a fall of 74%. In addition, Waitrose sold more than 5,700 reusable bags in these two weeks