Global Tourism Plastics Initiative
The Chamber of Diving and Water Sports is proud to be a signatory of the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative led by the United Nations Environment Programme and the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), in collaboration with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation
As a signatory of the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative, we endorse the common vision to address the root causes of plastic pollution. We support the Red Sea Governorates and the South
Sinai Governorates decrees in banning the use of single-use plastics issued respectively in 2019 and 2020, and the Ministry of Environment’s efforts to reduce and eliminate plastic pollution throughout Egypt.
Tourism is one of the hardest-hit economic sectors by the COVID-19 pandemic, affecting millions of jobs, hundreds of businesses, and indirectly our natural resources, with 80 percent of all national and global tourism taking place in coastal areas, plastic from this sector is a large contributor to this pollution. The Chamber of Diving and Water Sports recognizes the unfortunate return of single-use plastics during the COVID-19 pandemic which caused a major setback to all our members’ efforts to reducing plastics from their operation.
Through this initiative, we vouch to assist our members in providing solutions to eliminating plastics and helping them build back better for the coming years. We commit to eliminate the plastic items we don’t need; innovate so all plastics we do need are designed to be safely reused, recycled, or composted; and circulate everything we use to keep it in the economy and out of the environment. To our members, we urge them to work towards using either biodegradable single-use items or reusable items given that they are properly sanitized after their use.