Punjab is producing non-recyclable waste of 1.22 million tons per annum which is a potential threat to the survival of earth and climate, said Imran Hamid Sheikh, Director General, Punjab Environment and Climate Change Department.
Addressing a function hosted in his honour by the Faisalabad Superstores Association (FSA), he said that climate is our common universal asset and every individual must play their role in saving the globe from hazardous climatic changes which are fomenting floods, earthquakes and other natural calamities. He said that most of us put the onus of environmental changes on others to absolve ourselves from the sacred duty to preserve the earth for the coming generations. He said that plastic contamination has attained an alarming proportion in 12 major rivers of the world including the Indus. This river provides food and sustenance to millions of people settled along it but the contamination of plastic has posed a serious threat to aquatic life and we must make conscious, volunteer and practical efforts to discourage and minimize the use of plastic in our everyday life, he added. He said that the Punjab government has completed legislation to discourage the use of plastic. In the initial stage, shopping bags of less than 75 micron have been banned. He was optimistic that entrepreneurs would play a proactive role in discouraging the use of plastic.
The law has become effective from June 5 and hence superstores should completely abandon its use, he added. He said that the shopkeepers of D-Ground People’s Colony were fully following the law and he could proudly announce that D-Ground was now a plastic-free area. He said that the government was also discouraging the use of non-woven bags and plastic flexes but the department was not yet employing punitive measures. “Our society and particularly the business community should voluntarily implement this law in the greater interest of the earth and life on it,” he added. He said that he could arrange a meeting of entrepreneurs, who would implement the law, with Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz. Shahid Mumtaz Bajwa, President Superstores Association, said that 50 superstores in Faisalabad have already abandoned the use of plastic shopping bags. In this connection the association is observing zero tolerance, he added.
