Capital to recycle seized shopping bags into dustbins

Official says they are clamping down on the use of plastic bags in the city

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Climate Change (MoCC), after imposing a ban on polythene bags in the city, has decided to start recycling confiscated plastic bags and turn them into dumpsters and waste bins.

Talking to APP, Chemicals Director and Sub-urban Region Implementation Team In-charge Dr Zaigham Abbas said that the ban-implementation teams had so far imposed fines worth Rs1.2 million on plastic bag violators since August 14, 2019. Moreover, he said that they had seized some 2,100 kilogrammes of polythene bags.

"The seized bags will be recycled to make more than a thousand garbage bins and dumpsters which will be placed in schools, hospitals and other government institutions of the federal capital,” Dr Abbas said, adding that the fines collected have been submitted to the national treasury.

Dr Abbas said that the ministry has imposed a ban on the use of polythene bags in the federal capital to protect the public from its harmful impacts which were not only affecting human health but also its wildlife and ecology.

Following the imposition of the ban, he said, four teams were formed on August 16, last year to implement the ban in different areas of the city including the Presidency, the suburbs and the Industrial Area.

"The team members include officials of the MoCC, Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Administration, the Islamabad Metropolitan Corporation (IMC), the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) and representatives from the media," he added.

To a question, he said their teams are fully authorised to take action against violation of the ban. A fine can be imposed for up to Rs100,000 on the wholesalers and manufacturers of plastic bags, up to Rs10,000 on shopkeepers and Rs5,000 on consumers in case of first-time violation.

The value of the fine will increase based on how many times has the violation been repeated, he added. Dr Abbas further said that the use of polythene bags in the federal capital and its suburbs had now been controlled by around 80 per cent but efforts will continue until 100 per cent control is achieved.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 10^th, 2020.