Astana residents get free eco-friendly bags
On June 5, the World Environment Day, shoppers at Astana Galmart, KenMart, Alma and SMALL supermarkets were given degradable bags instead of plastic ones. It is hard to determine that the bags are degradable just by looking at them. But it usually takes 2 to 5 years for them to decompose.
"500 billion plastic bags are used worldwide annually. One million plastic bottles are sold in the world every minute. We've used more plastic over the past decade than in the past 100 years. That is why our company tries to draw attention of Astana residents to the problem. We have made this eco-friendly bags and given them out to the public," said Talgat Torebekov, head of ERG Department of Environmental Protection. 
The campaign became a big surprise for Astana residents. Some of them discovered the degradable bags for the first time.
"I will give it a try. This is the first time I get a degradable bag. I will carry out an experiment as to how long it will take to decompose this bag. I'm in. We definitely should say ‘no' to plastic," said Astana resident Yelena Miroshnikova. 
Some customers seemed to be used to eco-friendly bags, but still were surprised by degradable bags.
"At one point I switched to paper and cloth shopping bags but then began to use plastic bags again. This campaign is meaningful. I hope it will send the right message to all Kazakhstanis. In the future we should use only ecologically friendly components," added another customer Dinara Iskakova.
Eurasian Resources Group goes to great lengths to protect environment.
"Last year, over 20 billion tenge was earmarked for environmental protection measures across Kazakhstan. We bring our cleaning filters into compliance with environmental standards to minimize environmental impact," Talgat Torebekov said in conclusion.
The World Environment Day has been observed since 1974 at the initiative of the UN. ‘Beat plastic pollution' is the theme of this year's World Environment Day.