ISLAMABAD: The office of the climate change ministry’s director general and its subsidiary department, the Pakistan Environment Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) have been campaigning to ban plastic bags in the capital for over a year.

Director General Irfan Tariq told Dawn the EPA has been trying to make rules concerning plastic bags in order to discourage their sale, purchase and trading.

“The ministry is also targeting manufacturers of plastic bags and soon the use of plastic bags will be illegal under the Pakistan Environment Protection Act 1997,” Mr Tariq said, adding that the ministry has successfully convinced large stores and known pharmacies to switch to biodegradable plastic bags.

A plastic bag can last more than a hundred years, but biodegradable bags disintegrate in six months to a year after reacting to sunlight, and are not hazardous to the environment, he said.

In a message to mark Earth Day, celebrated on April 22, Climate Change Minister Senator Mushahidullah Khan said plastic pollution is poisoning oceans and land alike, injuring marine life and affecting human health.

The theme for Earth Day 2018 is ‘End Plastic Pollution’, which is dedicated to providing the information and inspiration needed to fundamentally change human attitude and behaviour about plastics.

“Our lives depend on biological diversity; species and ecosystems are disappearing at an unsustainable rate for which humans are responsible,” Mr Khan said on Saturday.

He added that people today stand to lose a wide variety of environmental goods and services that they take for granted. The consequences for economies and people will be profound.

He also highlighted that with present approach to development have caused the clearing of much of the original forest, drained half of the world’s wetlands, depleted three quarters of all fish stocks and emitted enough heat-trapping gases to keep our planet warming for centuries to come.

“As a result, we are increasingly risking the loss of the very foundation of our own survival. The variety of life on our planet gives us our food, clothes, fuel, medicine and much, much more,” he said.

According to a source in the ministry, large stores continue to use biodegradable plastic bags with impunity. Some 10,000 manufacturing units in the country produce more than 50 billion plastic bags a year, the official explained.

“Checking the use of plastic bags requires continuous monitoring and penalties on violators of environment laws. Little has been done to educate the masses of the consequences plastic bags have on the environment,” the official added.

Published in Dawn, April 22nd, 2018