‘Public awareness must on plastic bags hazardous impacts’

Islamabad: The hazardous impacts of plastic bags revealed by recent studies needs to be disseminated among the masses to shun its unbridled use in everyday life, an official of climate change ministry said on Friday.

Talking to APP, he said the ministry, taking in time policy measures, had successfully developed legal framework, which was awaiting the federal cabinet’s approval. “It contains a comprehensive and strict monitoring and punishment mechanisms for violators of the ban in the federal capital,” he added.

The plastic bags varying in size and uniform in jeopardizing ecology and human life were posing unavoidable health hazards, he added. “The people around the globe could be consuming five grammes of minute plastic particles every week, equal to the weight of a credit card,” he quoted the latest research by global scientists and the University of Newcastle in Australia that revealed shocking impacts of plastic bags.

The research claimed traces of polymer coming mostly from tap and especially bottled water, nearly invisible bits of it were also found in shellfish, beer and salt, he said. The ministry official mentioned the worldwide study, “The findings, drawn from 52 peer-reviewed studies, are the first to estimate the sheer weight of plastics consumed by individual humans: about 250 grammes, or half-a-pound, over the course of a year.

“It was necessary to disseminate these studies to the public as a different study worked out that the average American eats and drinks in about 45,000 plastics particles smaller than 130 microns annually, while breathing in roughly the same number, he said adding, “This will motivate the masses to shun plastic bag use as unless you make a person realize the severity of a hazard no output could be achieved in that regard.

“During the last two decades, the world had produced as much plastic as during the rest of history, and the industry was set to grow by four percent a year until 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research,” he said.