Plastic manufacturers supporting polythene bag ban: Wahab

The representative association of the plastic products manufacturers has announced its support for the provincial government’s decision to ban the use of polythene bags in the province from October 1 onwards.

This was claimed by Adviser to the Sindh Chief Minister on Law and Environment Barrister Murtaza Wahab as he addressed a news conference on Monday. Wahab said that the association of plastic manufacturers had come to the fore for the support of the provincial government’s drive against the use of polythene bags.

He claimed that the association had given assurance to him that from October 1 onwards, the plastic manufacturers would not manufacture such grades of polythene bags, the production of which was not allowed under the provincial environmental law.

The environment adviser expressed his gratitude to the plastic manufacturers for lending support to the Sindh government’s drive against the use of polythene bags in the province. He said industrialists associated with the Korangi Association of Trade & Industry would also support the tree plantation campaign of the provincial government in Karachi.

The Sindh government under its current sanitation drive in the city had been lifting garbage from Karachi on an indiscriminate basis irrespective of this consideration whether or not the garbage disposal in any area was the responsibility of the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board, Wahab said.

He added that the backlog of uncollected municipal waste in the city was being lessened as earlier up to 11,000 tons of garbage was being lifted from Karachi on a daily basis and later that capacity was increased to 14,000 tons daily.

He said heavy machinery and up to 250 dumper trucks were being used to carry out the cleanliness drive in Karachi. Regarding the heavy rocks that had been found and later removed from sewer lines in Malir, Wahab said it was an act of miscreants who wanted to keep people of the city hostage.