Senators want a ‘plastic-free’ capital

Mayor says he is hobbled by meagre resources, lawmakers warn against abrupt shutdown of plastic industry

ISLAMABAD: A sub-panel of the Senate on Wednesday resolved to make the Parliament House and the offices of federal government free of plastics such as polythene bags as part of a move to make the federal capital ‘plastic-free’. In this regard, the climate change ministry was directed to come up with an action plan.

This was directed in a sub-committee of the Senate's Standing Committee on Climate Change which met in the Parliament House on Wednesday with Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed in the chair.

Senator Syed said that Islamabad should be rid of all plastic and other environmental pollutants to turn it into a model city which other cities of the country should aspire to emulate.

“The abundance of plastic products was not only destroying the environment but a lot of hazardous impacts are also coming to fore,” he said.

He added that like a lot of other countries, a ban on plastic bags had been introduced in Pakistan, but it was never implemented. Syed further said that awareness must be raised amongst the public for better results.

The subcommittee's convener directed the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) to run public service advertisements at prime time over the hazardous impacts of plastics.



The sub-committee further decided to launch an awareness drive on February 23 in which parliamentarians, civil society representatives, students of the COMSATS University, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) and the Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation (IMC) will participate.

Further, to make the parliament house and offices of the federal government plastic-free, the sub-committee decided to write to the chairman of the Senate and the National Assembly speaker.

Giving a briefing on improving the environment of the federal capital, officials of the Pakistan Environment Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) said that the environment of the city can be improved by generating power through alternative means such as solar and wind.

Moreover, the subcommittee was told that plastic bags were cheap, easily and widely available which made switching from them so difficult.

Climate Change Ministry Additional Secretary Hassan Nasir Jamy told the committee that he had “held meetings with officials of the Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB) and IMC to discuss cleanliness and polythene-free endeavours. The two organizations have issues, which need to be redressed," he said.

One of the major issues, he said, was that a statutory notification (SRO) for non-biodegradable plastic products had been imposed in the federal capital, which was not fully implemented.

In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and Islamabad, oxo-biodegradable plastics — which are biodegradable and not expensive — were introduced.

“However, research by experts revealed that it was more hazardous than the polyethene,” he concluded.

Senator Mushahid said the COMSATS University was the only institution of the country which was plastic free.

Rector COMSATS Prof Dr Raheel Qamar said the varsity had over 30,000 students, who could contribute in a cleanliness initiative in the city at no cost. He also called for a complete ban on the use of plastic in the federal capital.

On the request of Senator Syed, Dr Qamar announced that he would bring around 500 students of his university for a cleaning and tree plantation drive at proposed garbage sites in the city.

A ministry official, in his presentation on controlling plastics, told the committee that the plastic industry was the fifth largest revenue generating source of the country which employed around 320,000 labourers in Sindh alone.

"We are going to distribute free jute bags, which cost Rs200 per bag, amongst the secretariat workers to promote anti-plastic culture," he said.

At this, State Minister for Climate Change Zartaj Gul Wazir expressed concerns over the loss of livelihood for workers associated with the plastic bag industry. She suggested a gradual restriction on plastic bags.

"We need to impose a tax on plastic bags other than placing abrupt prohibitions. There is a need to introduce cotton bags and other such alternatives to end use of plastic bags which I proposed in past meetings of the Senate Caucus on Climate Change," she added.

"We need to work on capacity building of the institutions who collect garbage, build proper landfills and take responsibility in this matter," she said.

IMC Mayor Sheikh Anser Aziz told the committee that he had conducted numerous garbage collection and disposal campaigns including placing bins in all sectors. However, he said that they were hampered by a severe shortage of resources. He added that there was an imbalance between environment and sanitation staff with 3,000 staffers under the former wing and just 700 in the latter wing.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 14^th, 2019.