‘Punjab produces 1.2m of unrecyclable waste per annum’
Polypropylene Woven Sack Manufacturers Association has proposed mandatory printing of codes on plastic bags and code reader machines on production lines—a move it claims can increase the formal economy by 20%. Photo: afp
Punjab produces 1.22 million tonnes of non-recyclable waste per annum, which is a potential threat to the climate as well as the environment, Environment and Climate Change Director General Imran Hamid Sheikh has said.
Addressing a function hosted by the Faisalabad Superstores Association, he said climate is a common universal asset and every individual must play their role in saving the globe from hazardous climatic changes that are fomenting floods, earthquakes and other natural calamities.
He said most people put the burden of environmental changes on others to absolve themselves of the duty to preserve the earth for the coming generations.
He said that plastic contamination has attained an alarming proportion in 12 major rivers of the world, including the Indus.
“This river provides food and sustenance to millions of people settled along it, but the contamination of plastic has posed a serious threat to aquatic life, and we must make conscious, voluntary and practical efforts to discourage and minimise the use of plastic in our everyday life,” he added.
He said the Punjab government has completed legislation to discourage the use of plastic. Initially, shopping bags of less than 75 microns have been banned. He was optimistic that entrepreneurs would play a proactive role in discouraging the use of plastic.
The law became effective on June 5 and hence the superstores should abandon the use of light plastic bags, he added.
The official said the shopkeepers of D-Ground were fully following the law and it was now a plastic-free area.