CHP Submits Law Proposal for Single-Use Plastic Ban

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Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Antalya MP Çetin Osman Budak said, "We submitted the law proposal that includes the introduction of a ban on the use of single-use plastics to the Speaker's Office of the TBMM [Grand National Assembly of Turkey]," noting that tons of plastic waste were left behind after the Sacrifice Feast especially in the coastal cities.

Budak quoted the following information:

* According to the World Economic Forum's 2016 report, there are a total of 150 million tons of plastic in the world's seas and between 5 and 13 million tons of plastic get into seas every year.

* Scientists say an average of 5 kg of plastic waste hit the coast per kilometer per day on the Mediterranean coastline

* It is stated that the country the waves carry the second most amount of plastic waste to its shores is Turkey with 12.1 thousand tons.

* While plastic is found in the 92.8 percent of the deep-sea samples taken from the Mediterranean, there is one plastic waste per 4 square meters in the Mediterranean Basin.

* One out of every 10 litter in the sea of Marmara is plastic and 4 out of every 7 plastics are land-based.

* Of every 10 litter in the Black Sea, 5 are made up of plastic.

* If we say that roughly 40 percent of the 406 million tons of plastic produced every year in the world is single-use, the seriousness of the matter will be revealed once again.

* EU countries will ban single-use plastics as of 2021. We urgently need to act on this. We need to stop becoming a plastic hell for both our country and the world." (DB/VK)