Despite the ban on polythene bags, they are still being produced, sold, and used across Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), laments Seema Babar, a social worker, who makes cloth bags and distributes them free of cost to people, in order to discourage the use of plastic bags and protect the environment from their harmful effects.

Forty-nine-year-old Babar, from Pirpai village of Nowshera district in K-P is leading an initiative to reduce plastic waste in our society for the last some six years.

“Few years ago, when the provincial government banned the manufacturing and sale of plastic bags in the province, I decided to make cotton bags and distribute them among people to raise awareness and promote the use of cloth bags, instead of plastic which cause pollution. “I first started this initiative in my village and later expanded the campaign to the main city and other parts of Nowshera district,” Seema Babar told The Express Tribune.

She runs a women’s skill centre in her village, where women and young girls come to learn sewing and other handicraft skills.

“During the training, the participants first make cloth bags using various types of raw and old fabric provided by relatives and neighbours. The bags carry anti-plastic and awareness slogans. After initial training, they practice stitching clothes and learn other skills,” she said.

She added that in the past most plastic pollution was seen in urban areas, but now the waste can be observed in fields, crops, and irrigation channels in rural areas as well, affecting the environment where people once breathed fresh air and enjoyed lush greenery.

“When the ban on use of plastic bags was imposed, people took our campaign seriously,” she says. “But over time, most of them do not pay attention to our cause and have gone back to using polythene bags.”

While sharing people’s reactions, she said that when she and her team distributed cotton bags, many people accepted them with a smile, reflecting how a small group of females could change the community’s mindset to adopt reusable bags instead of plastic bags.

According to Muhammad Tahir, a vegetable vendor in Mardan city, when the provincial government imposed a ban on polythene bags, the use of non-biodegradable bags decreased, and instead vendors and traders mostly began to use biodegradable plastic bags.

“However, due to the low durability of biodegradable bags, lack of government monitoring, and customer demand, non-biodegradable bags have made a comeback and openly are used for daily shopping,” he added.

A single cotton bag must be reused 50 to 150 times to have a lower environmental impact than a single-use plastic bag, according to a 2020 United Nations report. However, the exact number depends on the specific impact being measured, as a UK study found a cotton bag needs to be used 131 times to offset climate change, and thousands of times for comparable overall environmental impact. The effectiveness of cotton bags hinges on consumers consistently reusing them, as the production of one cotton bag is more energy-intensive than one plastic bag.

Cotton bags have undoubtedly transformed consumer trends by offering a sustainable and practical alternative to single-use plastic bags. As consumers continue to prioritize sustainability in their purchasing decisions, the popularity of cotton bags is expected to grow even further, driving positive change towards a greener and more environmentally conscious future. By choosing cotton bags, consumers can make a tangible difference in reducing plastic waste and promoting a more sustainable way of life.

In 2017, the provincial government of KP banned the use of polythene bags. However, after number of litigations, in 2022, amendments were introduced to the KP Environmental Protection Act 2014, which enforced a complete ban on plastic shopping bags across the province.

According to officials of the KP Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), letters were dispatched to development authorities such as the Galiyat Development Authority, Kaghan Development Authority and Kumrat Development Authority to ensure implementation of the ban in all jurisdictions.

All commissioners across the province were also directed to carry out operations against the use of these hazardous bags, they added. The EPA has prosecuted manufacturing units and wholesale dealers who violated the law, and soon these powers will be delegated to deputy and assistant commissioners as well, officials said.

According to data obtained from The Water and Sanitation Services Company Peshawar (WSSP), the company collects about 500 tons of solid waste every day from 42 union councils of district Peshawar, which is then dumped at an authorised site on the outskirts of the provincial capital, Peshawar.

The data shows that the waste consists of 10 percent plastic, 49 percent biodegradable materials, 9.4 percent paper, and 11 percent wood, among other materials.

According to the company, the waste is scientifically managed by covering it with soil and spraying it before disposal. A sanitary landfill site has also been established to ensure that underground water reserves are not contaminated by the waste.

Babar said that in the early days of the campaign, the district administration and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) supported her cause and extended their help, but over time, their interest has faded away.

She added that even the use of biodegradable polythene bags has is not seen any more as people are seen using non-biodegradable bags which created pollution.

“In the early days of the plastic bag ban, the district administration and NGOs arranged awareness sessions in different areas in which we also participated,” she says. “But now such activities are no longer taking place and we take the initiative to carry out awareness drives independently.”

“Our mission to promote the use of cotton bags instead of plastic bags still continues,” Babar shares. “The women working at my centre, along with my neighbours and relatives, still use cotton bags, which is very important for raising awareness and discouraging the use of plastic bags.”

According to United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) 2023 report, Pakistan produced 3.9 million tonnes of plastic waste in 2020, over 65 per cent of which was mismanaged. The report also states that 18 per cent of municipal solid waste produced in Pakistan is plastics. Only three percent of plastic used by the manufacturing industry in Pakistan is recycled material.

In 2019, the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) imposed a ban on the manufacturing, import, sale, purchase, storage, and use of polythene bags in the Islamabad Capital Territory.

About the adverse impact of polythene bags on the environment, professor Dr Muhammad Nafees Khan, a faculty member of the department of Environmental Sciences at the University of Peshawar, told The Express Tribune that the regular use of polythene bags was a major threat to the environment.

He added that when they are burned, they cause air pollution, when they are thrown into rivers, they pollute the water and endanger aquatic life and when they are dumped in the earth, they cause reduced crop production.

Dr Khan added that placing food items with a temperature from 20 to 25 degrees celsius in polythene bags can cause cancer in the human body, as cancer-causing aldehyde compounds leach from the bag into the food.

“When plastic bags are exposed to ultraviolet radiation and water, they break down into microplastics, which, when entering the human body through breathing, can affect the lungs,” he said, adding that due to the choking of drainage systems, they are also causing urban flooding in city areas.

He mentioned that the best alternative to these hazardous bags is cotton bags and stressed that raising awareness is very important for promoting their use.

“To reduce and control plastic waste, discarded polythene bags should be converted into Refuse-Derived Fuel (RDF) for use in large industries such as steel mills, cement factories, and other industrial units that require high temperatures for production,” he suggests. “This approach will help keep the environment free from plastic waste, while industries will benefit from a cheaper source of energy.”

Dr Syed Waqas Ali Shah, a faculty member in the Department of Environmental Sciences at Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, told The Express Tribune that plastic bags have a harmful impact on both climate change and natural habitats. Since polythene bags were made from fossil fuels, he explained that the industries that produce them emit large amounts of greenhouse gases, contributing to global warming and air pollution.

“Because of their easy use, the consumption of these hazardous bags is also on a large scale. According to a report, around one million plastic bags are used worldwide every minute. In developing countries like Pakistan, most of them are dumped in open areas instead of being recycled, which has adverse effects on the environment, ecosystems, and living beings as well,” he says.

Syed Waqas Ali Shah pointed out that due to the rapid production of plastic bags in large quantities, more landfill space is occupied and dumping them on the ground causes frequent clogging of drains and waterways both in villages and city areas as its decomposition takes hundreds of years.

He said that when those bags were flow into rivers and seas they polluted water and endangers marine life.

“Many aquatic animals consume plastic bags thinking they are food, which affects their stomachs and intestines and often leads to their deaths. In the rivers of the Peshawar Valley, we once observed a population of turtles that has now almost vanished. In other countries, similar species have become rare due to the presence of plastic bags in rivers and seas,” Shah explained.

He suggested that, along with the implementation of laws, raising public awareness about the hazards of polythene bags and imposing heavy taxes on their production is also crucial.

As Babar’s village, Pirpai, is located near the Kabul River in Nowshera district, the residents are vulnerable to floods during the monsoon season. Apart from making cloth bags, Babar has also taken initiatives to address the adverse impacts of climate change, which have changed the pattern and severity of rainfall water level in rivers.

“As the district youth coordinator, I have formed several groups of young women who receive training and visit local communities to raise awareness about climate change, tree plantation, energy saving and water conservation in Nowshera district,” she shares, adding that these members also arrange free plants for plantation drives and coordinate with the district administration to take part in government sessions.

 

Abdur Razzaq is a Peshawar-based multimedia journalist. He tweets @TheAbdurRazzaq

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