Recycling plastic bags

The ministry of climate change is taking effective steps to curb environmental pollution with the aim of reversing the process of climate change. It is on the instructions of the ministry that the provinces have banned the use of plastic bags, and their efforts are giving out encouraging results. It is now only the ignorant and uninformed who have not cut down on the use of plastic bags, otherwise the government’s drive against plastic bags is having a positive effect on the educated classes as they are voluntarily shunning the highly harmful plastic.

Now the ministry of climate change has decided to recycle the seized plastic bags into dumpsters and waste bins. This is a two-pronged strategy. Getting rid of plastic litter and then using them to keep neighbourhoods and the environment clean. An official says since Aug 14 last year, around 21,00 kilogrammes of polythene bags have been seized and Rs1.2 million in fine have been collected from violators of the ban on plastic bags. The seized bags would be recycled into more than a thousand dumpsters and garbage bins and they would be placed in schools, hospitals and other government organisations. The official says a fine of up to Rs100,000 can be imposed on manufacturers and wholesalers of plastic bags, up to Rs10,000 on shopkeepers and Rs500 on individual consumer for first-time violation. The fine increases for subsequent violations. The use of plastic bags, according to the official, has now been reduced by 80%.

Plastic bags affect human health, wildlife, marine life and ecology. The biggest problem with plastic is that it takes 500 to 1,000 years to degrade, so it badly affects the environment. It chokes flows in gutters, rivers and other wetlands. Most plastic waste ends up in the ocean and this affects marine life. Fish eats plastic waste through which harmful substances are transmitted to humans. So far not much plastic waste has been recycled or incinerated.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 11^th, 2020.

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