At the blue Mosque or Sultan Ahmet Mosque in Istanbul every visitor receives one or more plastic bags per person to carry their shoes through the mosque. There is no option to leave your shoes at the entrance or to carry your shoes without a bag. After the visit at the mosque, the plastic bags will be thrown in to the bin and will not be reused. The number of visitors at the blue mosque is approximately 10.000 people per day.

Wearing shoes in a mosque is not allowed for religious reasons which should be respected. But surely there is another way than using thousands of plastic bags a day, for example using fabric bags, that can be reused or using a shoe shelf where people can pick up their shoes after their visit.

Single use plastic bags will not be recycled and will end up in landfill. They end up in our oceans, fields, forests and eventually in our stomachs or the stomachs of animals and can't be digested. The wasteful use of plastic bags has to stop now! Please help by signing this petition. It is as easy as that to make a difference.