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KARACHI, Nov 20: The government’s anti-polythene bag campaign has faltered in recent months as the thin, non-biodegradable bags are once again seen littering the city in the absence of any follow-up measures.
The high-ups concerned both in the city and provincial governments feel that the results of the campaign against the manufacture, sale or use of polythene bags could be made more effective only after enhancing the thickness of the banned plastic bags from 30 microns to 100 microns or totally discarding the use of polyethylene bags through legal provisions.
Upholding the appeals by citizens and environmentalists, the government of Sindh moved against the offending bags in 2006 by introducing an ordinance which later became the Sindh Prohibition of Manufacturing, Sale and Use of Polythene Bags Act, 2006. This prohibited the manufacture, sale and use of polythene bags, including any bags under 30 microns’ thickness, and declared the punishment a three-month prison term, a fine of Rs50,000 or both.
However, enforcement of the law was seen on the ground only in March 2007, when the Sindh environment department and the city district government Karachi (CDGK) joined hands against the manufacturers and vendors of polythene bags of the banned category.
Section 144 against bags
Given that the provincial environment department was unable to frame rules in line with the act and also lacked the magisterial power required for the purpose, the ban was enforced through Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) and on two different occasions, the city nazim ordered a ban on the manufacture, sale and use of such bags for 30 days.
Finding that it could not invoke Section 144 for the third time consecutively, the city government moved the Sindh home department for the purpose about six months ago. The Sindh home secretary on September 11 issued an order saying that the government of Sindh was satisfied that in order to ensure free flow in the sewerage, open nullah and storm-water drainage system and to safeguard the health and life of citizens, it was necessary to prohibit the manufacture, sale and use of polythene bags below 30 microns thickness within the limits of the city district of Karachi.
Unfortunately, the ban was not well publicised among the consumers and producers of the bags. The inadequate publicity and lack of enthusiasm that was witnessed among the enforcers of the governmental ban, including those in the Sindh environment department, could be one of the reasons for the ineffectiveness of the ban.
When contacted, the additional Executive District Officer (EDO) Revenue of the CDGK, Matanat Ali Khan, told Dawn on Monday that big shops and department stores had now stopped using polythene bags thinner than 30 microns.
‘The onus is on Sepa’
“We have tried our best to monitor the market and take action against the violators as per the legal tools made available to us for the purpose from time to time. But it is the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) on which the onus of responsibility rests most,” he added, saying that unless a complete ban on all types of plastic bags was imposed, the problem could not be handled in a meaningful manner.
Officials at Sepa and the environment department said that since the issue involved the livelihoods of a large number of people, the mechanism of dealing with offenders – within the available provisions of the law – was aimed at not causing any panic among the masses and handling the situation without bringing embarrassment to the political quarters.
The provincial Secretary for the Environment and Alternative Energy, Mir Hussain Ali, said that the campaign or follow-up could not be given due attention because of a couple of reasons, including some technical shortcomings and disagreement over the thickness of the polythene bags.
“Since Sepa is the major enforcer of the Prohibition on Polythene Bags Act, the environment department had also prepared a set of rules in line with the act and got them vetted as well from the provincial law department. But those could not be notified as at some later stage, it was agreed by the authorities that the thickness of the banned bags should be increased to 90-100 microns,” he informed.
He said that now he would take up the matters pertaining to the amendments in the act on a faster track and hoped that the Sindh governor, who, according to him, also supported the initiatives against the menace of plastic bags, would promulgate the changes through an ordinance.
Health hazards
Environmentalists are of the view that all plastic bags, sooner or later, break down into small pieces to finally turn into plastic chunks or plastic dust, which is non-biodegradable. The characteristic of polyethylene is that its molecular structures, despite their breakdown, remain too large for micro-organisms to swallow and are left behind to cause serious environmental and health problems.
Medical practitioners dislike the use of polythene bags, also known as ‘shoppers’, by milk-sellers, sidewalk vendors, supermarkets, grocery stores, fast-food shops and vendors of ready-to-eat food. All of them pack their wares in plastic bags, which is a hazardous practice as these bags are made of thermoplastic resin, which may add certain substances to consumables, it was noted.
On the other hand, sewerage and sanitation officials were of the view that the plastic bags’ problem was affecting their service delivery system as well. Polythene bags choke drains and badly affect the smooth functioning of the sewerage system and supplement solid waste, they maintained.
