We just stumbled upon another green piece of news, and we’re already feeling ecstatic. It feels good that more people are finally becoming aware of how crucial it is to take care of the environment. Yesterday, Very Nile announced on their Facebook page that they’ve joined forces with other initiatives in hopes of banning single-use plastic in Egypt for good.

In case you’re not familiar with Very Nile, it’s an initiative that works on cleaning the Nile of rubbish. As for “The Coalition Egypt Ban Plastic”, the initiative, that was formed on the 4th of July of this year, was agreed upon in a meeting between collaborating entities. Those include 20 NGOs, businesses, and artists, like Bassita, Greenish, Nile Taxi, Mobikya, Very Nile, Kefaya Plastic, Bekia, Go Green, Re-Solutions, Drumstick, Safareya, Envarious, DEDI, Up-Fuse, Roo’ya, BanLastic, and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.

This new initiative aims at encouraging policymakers to ban single-use plastic bags in Egypt. The coalition wants to raise awareness about how harmful daily plastic consumption can be to the environment. It intends to educate the entire society about eco-friendly alternatives; manufacturers, retailers, and consumers. 

In order to face the challenges ahead of launching such an initiative, the 20 partners formed different committees. These include one for education, another for campaigning, and third for research and development.

“Our responsibility as travellers extends way beyond ‘take nothing but pictures; leave nothing but footprints’. It extends to how we engage with the world around us as we explore it, and that includes everything from what we carry as we travel to how we carry ourselves as we travel”, Safareya wrote on their Facebook page announcing they’re joining this new initiative.

Many movements aimed at preserving the environment have been taking Egypt by storm lately. Even the government is involved as Cairo will start planting its rooftops, while MP Anissa Hassouna suggested earlier this year to ban single-use plastic. Also, supermarkets have been taking steps toward change. Seoudi Supermarkets recently collaborated with product design start-up, Drumstick, and released tote bags to replace plastic ones.