Another plastic ban

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Plastic pollution is a global problem that significantly impacts humans, wildlife and ecosystems. To combat this mounting crisis, Sindh government has announced a province-wide ban on plastic bags starting from June 5, 2025.

This decision coincides with the observance of World Environment Day, which further reinforces the importance of a ban on single-use plastic. While the initiative is commendable, it follows a series of previously unsuccessful attempts to create a plastic-free country, leading to understandable scepticism.

Plastic bags have long been identified as a major source of environmental pollution across land and sea and discouraging their permeation into everyday routine is not only necessary but long overdue. However, success of the current ban relies on the efficacy of new policies, public cooperation and the availability of accessible alternatives.

Around 10 billion shoppers are used annually – only in Karachi. The region is overly reliant on plastic bags while usage of both cheap and high-quality alternatives, such as clothing bags, is not widely discussed. Moreover, a ban has already been in place since 2014 which was reinstituted in 2022, but the province hardly witnessed a decrease in production, sale or usage.

Without a comprehensive strategy that gradually promotes the inculcation of alternatives into ordinary households and also enforces strict measures against usage of plastic bags, the ban is at risk of becoming yet another symbolic gesture.

To ensure long-term impact, the government needs to initiate awareness campaigns in collaboration with activists, policymakers, police and other relevant authorities. It must also actively invest in the production and subsidisation of environment-friendly alternatives, ascertaining their affordability and availability.

When such options are integrated into both urban and rural markets, this recent ban will hold the power to drive behavioural change at a grassroots level, rather than simply enacting a rule that no one follows.