PESHAWAR, June 24: Black polyethylene bags continue to be used despite being banned under the law, exposing the apathy of the Environmental Protection Agency.

Production of these bags had been banned all over the world because its raw material contained dioxin gas, a carcinogenic agent, an EPA official said.

A number of manufacturing units in the Gadoon Amazai Industrial Estate (GAIE) in Swabi producing these bags had been shut down while the rest had discontinued their production altogether, he said.

However, the fact remains that markets were replete with black polyethylene bags, as their production entail lower production costs than the ones that were opaque white or transparent in colour, environmental activists said.

They believed that these bags were more hazardous environmentally because of their being non-recyclable, clogging drainage and sewerage systems while rendering the land infertile if used as a landfill agent.

A report, compiled by a non-governmental organization, stated that there were 24 polyethylene bag manufacturing units in the NWFP and all of them were involved in marketing black polyethylene bags, adding that most of these factories were located in GAIE, Swabi.

It said that the monthly production capacity of these manufacturing units ranged between 3,000 tonnes and 5,000 tonnes.

According to the report, 80 per cent of its production was being supplied to Peshawar for province-wide distribution.

These units, it said, employed about 500 people and had a daily production capacity of 10.53 tonnes against the total consumption of 6.6 tonnes.

A summary, moved in 1997 during the tenure of the then chief minister Mehtab Ali Khan, to impose a ban on the manufacture, marketing and sale of the black polyethylene bags, was returned unapproved with remarks that it involved closure of 24 factories which may render 500 employees jobless.

The chief minister had, at that time, asked the EPA, NWFP, to hold talks with the owners of these industries. Since then, the EPA had been trying to persuade the owners of plastic manufacturing units to stop the production of black polyethylene bags.

EPA had already requested the provincial government to impose a ban on the manufacture, sale and use of the black polyethylene bags in the light of the existing laws.

According to Section 13 of the Environmental Protection Act of 1997, prohibited import of hazardous waste stating: “No person shall import hazardous waste into Pakistan and its territorial waters.”

Section 14 of the Act dealt with handling of hazardous substances; stating: “No person shall generate, collect, consign, transport, treat, dispose of, store, handle or import any hazardous substance except - (a) under a licence issued by the federal agency and in such a manner as may be prescribed; or (b) in accordance with the provisions of any other law for the time being in force, or of any international treaty, convention, protocol, code, standard, agreement or other instrument to which Pakistan is a party.”

However, according to the Environmental Protection Act of 1997, it was not clear whether the black polyethylene bags were hazardous or not.

A Karachi-based man had challenged the production and sale of the black polyethylene bags in the Sindh High Court that constituted a commission to determine its toxicity.

Subsequently, the SHC had ruled that all polyethylene bags were not toxic, except for the black ones, which were made of imported scrap. In the light of the court’s verdict, the EPA placed a ban on the import of scrap used in their production in 1998.

It was determined that the imported raw material often contained toxic agents, because the flower bowels, etc., which was sprayed with pesticides.

DG, EPA, Dr Mohammad Bashir Khan told Dawn that small-scale manufacturing units had been installed in houses and plastic bags were being manufactured in the Fata.