Islamabad: The Ministry of Climate Change on Monday notified its intent to recycle its stores of confiscated plastic bags – acquired from the capital city – into flower pots, waste bins and plastic chairs, according to news sources. This initiative is being spearheaded by the ministry under the government’s Clean and Green Pakistan project.
As per the publication, the ministry’s implementation teams have enforced more than Rs1.2 million in fines on vendors using plastic bags since August 14 last year; in addition to apprehending around 2,100kg of the said material. These confiscated bags would be recycled into more than 1,000 bins and flowerpots which will be placed in public schools, hospitals and other government institutions across Islamabad.
In order to impose the ban, the ministry will penalize
shopkeepers, wholesalers and consumers; with wholesalers being fined up to PKR 100,000
– while the fines on shopkeepers and consumers would amount to PKR 10,000 and PKR
5,000, respectively.
The ministry, further, claims to have brought down the plastic bags usage in the capital by 80%. But despite these measures, inside department sources have reportedly discovered that corner stores and vendors continue to package goods in polythene bags.
Some of these traders use the toxic oxy-biodegradable
plastic bags variant; considered by environmentalists to be more damaging to human
health and the environment (seeing as they disintegrate into particles that can
be inhaled by humans and ingested by marine life) – and also banned under the
law.
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