A Saudi environmental expert has warned against the risks posed by the excessive use of plastic bags on the environment, local media said.

Majda Abu Ras, deputy head of the Saudi Environmental Society (SENS) and an environmental professor at King Abdulaziz University (KAU), said plastic bags contain high levels of lead that exceed safety standards set by the European Union (EU).

The expert, who was quoted by a local daily, said that the absence of legislations ensuring that manufacturing processes and disposal methods are in accordance with environmental requirements is making the situation worse.

Plastic waste accounts for 17.5 percent of the total volume of waste produced by an individual daily, she said.

“Plastic-manufacturing plants should be forced to add bio-items that will accelerate the decomposition of the plastic and create mechanisms that are conducive to recycling and remanufacturing this type of waste,” said Abu Ras.

The expert proposed the formation of a committee comprised of the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME), the Saudi Arabian Standards Organization (SASO), the Saudi Food and Drugs Authority (SFDA) and the ministries of Commerce, Health and Municipal and Rural Affairs to come up with measures on how to avoid plastic contamination.

The committee would advise and approve standards on the manufacture of plastic-based products and have them applied in manufacturing factories, the paper quoted her as saying.

She stressed the need to minimize the use of plastic bags at stores and fast-food restaurants and noted the danger arising from the inability of plastic waste to decompose and the difficulty of its collection, a matter that poses a health hazard to animals, marine mammals and countless types of fish around the globe.