Ahmad Safavi added reusable and degradable paper and cloth bags are distributed among shoppers during the week to eliminate single-use plastic bags and promote the culture of using environment-friendly bags, Tehran-based English newspaper, Iran daily, reported.
'The campaign - with the slogan 'Less Plastics: Less Pollution and Healthier' - aims to change the pattern of using plastic bags among Tehran residents,' he said.
The official noted that customers to grocery stores supervised by Tehran Municipality have been provided with degradable plastic bags for the last six years.
'About 400 million of these bags are produced by the municipality every year,' Safavi said.
Mohammad Ali Shaeri, the head of Tehran Municipality's Environment and Sustainable Development Office, said two million tons of plastic materials are used in the country annually. 'About 600,000 tons of single-use plastic containers and 200,000 tons of plastic bags are used each year nationwide.”
Noting that plastic bags pose risks to wildlife and the nature, Shaeri said the citizens should be made more aware of the dangers posed by plastic bags.
'Iranians are using less cloth and paper bags these days than in the past. This is because plastic bags that are made of petroleum are much cheaper in Iran, as the country is the biggest oil producers,' he said.
Every day, 3.5 million tons of plastic bags are produced worldwide, while Iran's share is 40,000 tons.
About four percent of the world's annual oil production goes for producing plastic bags. In other words, between 60 and 100 million barrels of oil are consumed for producing plastic bags annually in the world.
Iranian officials believe even one less plastic bag in a week is a right step in saving the planet.
If every family reduces its use of plastic bags by one per week, the consumption of plastic bags will decline by 816 million every year in the country.