What were you doing when you were nine-years-old? Making some crafts from a Klutz book? Kicking around a soccer ball? Devising a business plan to tackle plastic pollution and alleviate childhood poverty?

Zymal Umar can attest to the latter. Pakistan’s youngest entrepreneur has started a project entitled Zee Bags, which aims to reduce plastic Pollution by providing an environmentally friendly alternative to plastic grocery bags.

When Zymal was on a shopping trip with her parents three years ago, she was stunned by the plastic bags on the streets, according to The Express Tribune. Feeling downtrodden by the plastic Pollution, she was reminded of the severe consequences our habits have on the environment. Then, she noticed a shopkeeper handing out newspaper bags. And in that moment, Zymal knew she had to act.

She has since created beautiful, unique reusable newspaper bags for hundreds of customers.

It’s amazing to see this youngster using her brains and entrepreneurial skills for good. And she should certainly feel proud of the work she is doing. After all, plastic  grocery bags are killing thousands of marine animals every year through their contribution to plastic waste. According to the Earth Institute, over 1 trillion plastic bags are used worldwide annually – that’s about 2 million bags used per minute around the world.

And those bags certainly don’t disappear into thin air. Instead, they end up in our oceans, putting approximately 700 marine species in danger of extinction due to the threat from entanglement, Pollution, and ingestion. And plastic bags are just one of many forms of plastic trash that ends up in the oceans – in fact, an appalling 8.8 million tons of this material make their way from land to the oceans every single year.

But with Zee Bags, we’re all empowered to make more thoughtful choices about our trash production.  And Zymal’s amazingness doesn’t stop there – the profits from her sales go towards helping underprivileged children.

Check out the Zee Bags Facebook page to learn more! Maybe you’ll even be tempted to buy your own!

All Image Source: Zee Bags/Facebook