Innovative initiative to promote use of reusable bags

ISLAMABAD: Rawalpindi Division Commissioner Saif Anjum has taken a novel initiative to promote use of reusable bags in place environmentally disastrous plastic bags.

He has sent a few reusable bags to some persons with an appeal for joint action to reduce the single-use plastic bags.

The commissioner’s covering letter said that the non-biodegradable nature of single-use plastics renders them one of the most serious contemporary environmental concern. Apart from degrading the local soil, air and water bodies, much of such plastic seems to be converging in the oceans, the letter said. At the current rate of accumulation, plastic is expected to outweigh all the fish in the seas by 2050.

It said that what is more worrying is that up to 95pc of such plastic comes from just ten rivers including Pakistan’s Indus.

A nationwide study conducted in 2004 revealed that around 55 billion single-use plastic bags were manufactured and consumed in Pakistan each year with an annual growth rate of 15pc, the letter said. By this standard, every Pakistani consumes an average of around 400 plastic bags annually. It suggested that the most simple and convenient way to reduce environmental plastic is to switch over to reusable bags. The commissioner’s effort is meant to provide an impetus for this change.

The letter expressed the hope that by bringing in a small change through putting the reusable bags to use, a larger movement for transition to a better environmental consciousness in the society can be ushered in. Environmentalists have suggested discontinuation of Oxo biodegradable plastic bags, which have been declared disastrous to the environment, and marine life in particular.

The UN Environment Programme called for an end to Oxo biodegradable plastic bags four years ago. Among the various types of Oxo degradable plastic bags such as the ones that disintegrate after exposure to the sun and the soil, the type that breaks down after reacting with oxygen were introduced by the Pakistan Environment Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) some eight years ago.

It took some years to get some major retail chains of Pakistan to switch to biodegradable plastic bags. Oxo degradable bags take as long as six months to a year and a half or more to break down into micro plastics, an expert said.

He said because they do not completely disintegrate, pieces of plastic settle in soil impacting its fertility and crop production. Worst, these tiny pieces of plastics find their way into water channels that eventually end up in rivers and seas and become fish food, choking and killing them. It could also end up inside humans after consuming sea food, he said.

If not stopped, he feared, Oxo degradable plastics could sometime in the future affect Pakistan’s fish exports especially to the European Union, which is strict in observing environmental laws.

The expert says the Oxo degradable bags brought into use not too long ago are an environmental hazard. There were perhaps not many options available to replace non-degradable plastic bags, he feels.