Environmental hazards: Three years on, capital administration fail to curb use of polythene bags

Traders, factory owners say laws discriminatory which favour a few companies to keep their monopoly

ISLAMABAD: The environmental watchdog and city administration have failed to curb the use of non-degradable plastic products in the federal capital.

The increasing use of polythene bags is not only causing environmental hazards but also adding to the municipal waste of the city as the regulatory body has failed to enforce its laws, officials and citizens say.

On April 1, 2013, the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) notified a regulation prohibiting the manufacture, import, sale and use of non-degradable plastic products across the country and Islamabad.

However, due to a weak enforcement mechanism, sale and use of non-degradable plastic products  --  carry bags, bread, and frozen food packaging, mulching films, garbage bags and shrink wraps -- is on the rise.

On February 9, a decision was taken at a meeting at the Ministry of Climate Change that the capital city administration will provide a list of plastic manufacturing units operating in its limits in a week to enforce regulations in the capital city while the Capital Development Authority (CDA) was supposed to check their status.

It was also decided in the meeting that the civic agency in collaboration with various trade organisations and owners of shopping malls will reintroduce a campaign to switch over to oxo-degradable plastic bags and other environment-friendly materials.

The CDA, however, could neither confirm the status of the plastic manufacturing units nor launched the much-touted drive despite a lapse of three months.

Last week, the EPA renewed licences of three units selling additives to ensure their availability for producing oxo-degradable plastics. After the renewal of the licences, the business community showed concern saying that the regulations were discriminatory which favour a few companies to keep their monopoly and accused EPA officials of complicity.

The Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industries and the Pakistan Business Council have also raised concerns about the applicability of regulations on the certain type of packaging materials including oxo-degradable plastic material for food packaging.

“The Ministry of Climate Change had directed the Pak-EPA to address concerns of the industries and consumers of plastic packaging material and amendment to the regulations was notified back while keeping their concerns in view,” an official at the Pak-EPA claimed.

On paper, the regulation aims to control the increasing production and use of non-degradable plastic materials and to enable importers and exporters to comply with environment-friendly packaging demand in the local and international market, but on ground, it is almost un-implemented. Companies continue to manufacture and sell polythene plastic products across the country.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 10^th, 2016.