Virgin Megastores in the UAE said it has replaced all its plastic shopping bags in the UAE with fully biodegradable bio-cassava bags from Avani and called on shoppers to take a stand and avoid using single-use plastic.

Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Megastores, announcing the #thisbagisahero campaign on social media alongside a video showing how Avani’s bio-cassava bags are made said: “Virgin Megastore is repacking plastic shopping bags with fully biodegradable bio-cassava bags across all of their UAE stores - great initiative.”

Branson’s Instagram post has already been viewed over 100,000 times.

Virgin Megastores is the first major retailer in the UAE to switch to Bio-cassava bags from Avani, a provider of sustainable disposable packaging solutions, which are made from organic resins, cassava starch and vegetable oil making them 100 per cent biodegradable, compostable, earth friendly and certified non-toxic, dissolve in water and proven to be harmless if consumed by animals.

These natural resources are processed into pellets, and transformed into bio-cassava bags which perform just like plastic bags but are fully compostable within 180 days or less. You can reuse the bags for your grocery shopping, or packing your recyclables, or simply dissolve it instantly in hot water - #thisbagisahero shopping bags are now available in all Virgin Megastores in the UAE priced at Dh1 ($0.27).

Vartivar Basmajian, head of Franchise and Brand of Virgin Megastore, said: “Large amounts of plastic enter the ocean every minute, every day. According to the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change 11 billion plastic bags are used annually in the UAE alone.

“Plastic pollution is a pressing environmental issue posing serious health risk in our eco-system. Which is why Virgin Megastore has decided to take a stand. Virgin Megastores will replace all of its shopping bags with bio-cassava bags in partnership with Avani. Being part of the Virgin group, we believe in doing business for good. This is just the beginning.”

Peter Avram, director of Avani Middle East, added: “Virgin Megastore joins over 200 hospitality and retails businesses providing consumers with 100 per cent sustainable and compostable alternative solutions to single-use plastic, since we launched Avani Middle East in the UAE in 2017. This November we will open the first-ever production facility in the Middle East to produce the Bio-Cassava bags in Dubai Science Park, Dubai.

“This marks our next step in the journey for Avani to produce all our Bio-cassava bags here in the UAE and it is partnerships such as Virgin Megastores that is supporting our growth and impact to offer solutions to businesses that want to reducing the use of single-use plastic and make an impact on our planet.”

As part of the #thisbagisahero campaign Virgin Megastores has also released a series of videos on the impact of plastic and making a stand, this bag is a hero and so are you, and how to reuse your #thisbagisahero on their social media @virgnmegastoreme channels.  – TradeArabia News Service