Speaking with The Express Tribune, DHA public relations director Zeerik Ahmad said that the bags had been introduced as part of an environment awareness campaign in the hope of curbing pollution caused by excessive use of plastic bags. He said the new biodegradable bags had been introduced in November to approximately 15,000 houses in DHA Phases 1 to 8. The initiative, he said, was taken to encourage residents to move towards environment -friendly living in the society. “Through this initiative, we want to encourage not just DHA residents but also other housing societies to take steps to save the environment,” he said.
Business Dynamics Private Limited (BDPL), a distributor of the UK-based Symphony Environmental Technologies, have been providing the oxo-biodegradable bags. “Our aim is to offer biodegradable products in the area of flexible packaging in order to offer an environment friendly alternative,” said BDPL assistant manager Nabeel Rasheed.
Rasheed did not reveal the price at which the bags are being sold to the DHA, he did, however, say that the overall cost per bag was ‘just a few paisas’ more than the plastic bags sold in the market. DHA was also not able to confirm the price of the bags. A DHA resident, however, said that the bags were being sold for Rs15 each.
The bags have so far only been introduced in DHA but the company aims to expand the distribution to other housing societies including Bahria Town and Model Town. Rasheed says talks are underway to introduce biodegradable plastic bags in the DHA in Islamabad and Karachi.
A green march
The environment friendly campaign, launched by the DHA, aims to educate residents about the hazards of environmental pollution especially from use of plastic bags said the DHA Public Relations office. Banners with slogans like ‘Fight against plastic pollution’ and ‘Use oxo-biodegradable bags’ were put up in various phases of the authority. According to Ahmed, as many as 500 banners had been put up and flyers distributed to residents over the weekend.
The DHA organised an environment awareness walk, ‘Let’s walk towards a green world,’ on Sunday. Over 1,000 people including students, residents and members of the Defence Housing Society Resident’s Association took part. Carrying banners, participants walked from Lalik Jan Chowk at around 11:30 am to Wateen Chowk where the walk concluded. All schools and colleges in the DHA participated in the walk. Later, addressing the gathering, the administrator of the Lahore DHA Brig. Haroon Malik said he was overwhelmed by the response towards the campaign and had resolved to introduce more such initiatives.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 19th, 2012.
COMMENTS (1)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
Wonderful initiative !