Plastic cups must be labelled by manufacturers to specify use

Dubai: Plastic cup manufacturers and importers have been instructed by Dubai Municipality to introduce labelling on their cups, specifying their use.

The step has been taken as part of the Municipality's campaign to ban the serving of tea and other hot beverages in plastic cups that cannot withstand temperatures of 100C.

Manufacturers must indicate on the bottom of their cups what they can be used for, said Khalid Mohammad Sharif, Assistant Director of the Public Health Department and Head of the Food Control Section.

He clarified that the municipality has not banned all plastic cups. Sharif said the idea behind the circular was to regulate the use of plastic cups in serving beverages and not to ban all kinds of plastic cups.

The municipality circular sent to restaurants and cafeterias prohibited hot drinks being served in plastic cups made of "rigid polystyrene plastic," Sharif said.

He said manufacturers should submit technical information to the municipality about the materials used in manufacturing their cups.

Sharif said a list of companies that manufacture or distribute permitted cups would be approved by the Municipality and distributed among establishments that serve hot beverages.

On April 3 the Municipality issued a circular regulating the use of plastic cups for serving hot beverages.

It called for alternatives such as paper cups to be used. The ban came into effect on May 3 but the majority of cafeterias are still using the banned rigid polystyrene cups.