Dubai, Feb 12 (IANS) The United Arab Emirates (UAE) based Emirates General Petroleum Corporation Emarat is promoting environment friendly biodegradable plastic bags, WAM news agency reported Friday.

Hussain Kazim, manager of corporate communications at Emarat, said the company was aware of the risks imposed by use of regular indecomposable plastic bags on the environment and has restricted the use of plastic bags at all its sites.

'Emarat stands committed to taking strict measures to ensure that we play a responsible and active role in the local community to reduce such waste,' he said.

'Biodegradable bags have been designed to protect the environment as they decompose once exposed to sunlight or buried underground,' Kazim added.