LAHORE, Jan 12: January may have officially been designated “Say-No-to-Plastic-Bags” month by the Punjab Environment Protection Department, but legal records show that the EPD and district government officials have yet to make any serious effort in following through on this slogan.

According to a list of cases at the Environment Tribunal of Punjab, only 33 cases have been prosecuted since May of last year from the towns of Okara, Faisalabad and Mandi Bahuddin. During the period no cases were registered from Lahore.

According to city district government officials, this figure is only the tip of the iceberg as hundreds of manufacturers and sellers continue to make and sell bags of a thickness less than 15 microns as stipulated by the Punjab Polythene Bags Ordinance 2002.

Plastic bags have choked several storm drains around the city, and continue to create an eyesore where diseases thrive. The bags are not biodegradable and can remain in the environment for up to 1,000 years, and workers are often seen eating their hot food out of plastic bags which can release carcinogens. Besides, the burning of all plastics, particularly black bags, releases noxious fumes into the atmosphere.

According to EPD legal affairs deputy director Nawaz Manik, the Punjab government is hoping to strengthen its regulations on plastic bags if it wins its appeal against a Lahore High Court ruling that fell in favour of an outright ban. The Punjab Plastic Manufacturers Association, headed by Major (retired) Raja Muhammad Sharif, also joined in a court case seeking to overturn the ban.

According to a CDGL official who requested anonymity, enforcement of regulation was hampered by the fact that until recently there was a confusion as to whether the 15 micron minimum thickness refers to a single fold of a plastic bag or both folds held together (the latter is correct). The official said that inspectors had stopped working on plastic bags issue in the run-up to the Lahore High Court verdict and in the period immediately after, before the verdict was challenged. Finally, he added, it was not possible for seven inspectors to deal with all environmental complaints to properly enforce regulations.

Dr Owais Farooqui, chairman of the Chief Minister’s Taskforce on the Environment, conceded that not enough was being done to launch clampdown on plastic bags, adding that people would only lose their appetite for bags once a viable alternative was presented to them. In its upcoming advertising campaign, he said, the EPD would ask people to try to return to using cloth bags for their groceries and daily shopping.