Social responsibility: ‘Only ‘green’ bags allowed now’

Metro Cash and Carry bans polythene bags, launches its second environment-friendly bag on the World Environment Day.

LAHORE:

“We realise the impact environment degradation is having on developing countries like Pakistan. We introduced a reusable bags made of non-woven fabric last year and have now launched recyclable paper bags to raise awareness about the issue,” said METRO Cash and Carry managing director David Boner.

He was speaking at the launching ceremony of the paper bags on World Environment Day on Sunday. “Only paper and fabric bags will now be allowed at Metro,” he said.

“The paper bag is made of rice husk, can carry up to 5 kg and is recyclable,” he said. The store would charge Rs5 per one paper bag. He said the fabric bag could carry up to 10 kg and was porous so water could easily pass though it. “Even if these bags are dumped, they won’t clog drains like the plastic bags do,” he said.

Talking to The Express Tribune, customers present at the ceremony said plastic bags should be banned at other places as well. They said that if the government could not do anything, businesses should come together and devise a strategy in this regard. However, they raised concerns about the price of the bags. They said that at Rs50 per bag, the fabric bag was expensive.

The environment ministry is working on a plan to ban plastic bags in the country, said Federal Minister for Environment Samina Khalid Ghurki.

Addressing the gathering, Ghurki said black polythene bags were already banned and that provincial governments were regulating the thickness of other bags so that the damage they caused to the environment could be limited.

Ghurki said that the government was also working on promoting awareness about development and preservation of forests, this year’s World Environment Day theme.

She said forests were central to maintaining a balance between the natural and the built environment. She said forest development could be understood from a business point of view as well. “It yields high returns in the form the positive impact it has on natural resources and the economy,” she said.

She said that after the passage of the 18th constitutional amendment, forests conservation and development had become a provincial subject. “It is provinces’ responsibility now to allocate sufficient resources for the sector,” she said.

United Bank Limited district manager Mudassir Nawaz, Metro Corporate Affairs  director and company secretary Pervaiz Akhtar, Metro Offer Management Director Dirk Essmann were also present at the occasion.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 6^th, 2011.