Plastic Bags Association is worried on overnight blanket ban on polyethylene bags instead of going towards the regulation for sustainable environment protection
Lahore (Pakistan Point News / Online - 23rd August, 2019) Plastic Bags Association is worried on overnight blanket ban on polyethylene bags instead of going towards the regulation for sustainable environment protection.These views were expressed by the office-bearers of Plastic Bag Association while addressing a Press Conference at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry. Jehanzeb Jilani, Faisal Malik, Aleem Ahmad, Faisal Qadri, Moazzam Rasheed, LCCI President Almas Hyder, Senior Vice President Khawaja Shahzad Nasir and Vice President Faheem-ur-Rehman Saigal spoke on the occasion.
Plastic Bags Association representatives said that over 8000 factories of Plastic Bags are providing direct or indirect employment to millions people. Plastic Bags sector is also among the top five revenue generating sectors of Pakistan. It is also backbone of Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and Cottage Industry.They said that Plastic Bags Association has its own Research & Development and standing committee on environment which has given suitable suggestion and roadmap to the government for the legislation.
They appealed to Ministry of Climate Changes and Environment Protection Departments to have constructive meetings with the association and mutually formalize a sustainable policy on this environmental issue.They said that recent issue of environment is actually a failure of waste management companies. Plastic Bags Association has discussed and submitted all the applicable solutions to government, to address the environmental issues."Plastic bags association has advised min 45 micron thickness and size 12x"15" that can be easily re-used, collected and recycled, which was accepted by technical and legal teams of government of punjab, however the recent press conference contents of honorable Federal minister for climate change seems un-aware of this", they added.
Polyethylene is food and Drug Approved (FDA) product all around the world. Countries like USA, Europe, Australia, Canada etc have not banned plastic bags but have regulated like our plastic bags association has suggested.As part of regulating the usage of polyethylene shopping bags:They said that 10 countries have banned less than 30 micron single use shopping bags, 15 countries have banned less than 50 micron single use shopping bags while no country in the world, except Kenya, has banned the shopping bags and that has damaged the economy of Kenya in terms of revenue, un-employment and closure of factories.
Since Kenya has abundant jungles, therefore they can afford paper bags.For sustainable and green environment, Plastic Bags Association proposed a win-win strategy for this very important issue, that can lead to green environment and also not banning the plastic bags and saving the economy indifferent dimensions.
