IT goes without saying that the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) has failed to enforce a ban on the manufacturing, sale and use of polythene bags in Punjab. Despite Lahore High Court orders, the environmentally hazardous plastic bags are still being used by vendors, shopping centres, departmental stores, pharmacies and bakeries to sell their respective commodities.

Whenever the shopkeepers are reminded by some customer about the ban, they make sure not to give commodities to such a customer in a plastic bag. They do not shun its usage altogether. Some shopkeepers claim that customers do not bring cloth bags with them, and, hence, they are compelled to give commodities in plastic bags.

Biodegradable woven bags, which are the best alternative of polythene bags, are expensive for the shopkeepers and that is why they are unable and unwilling to bear the extra cost. The price of plastic bags is Rs320 per kilogramme, while the price of biodegradable woven bags is Rs800 per kg.

Consequently, shopkeepers continue to use the plastic bags even though they pose a threat to the environment and can damage the sewerage system, spread diseases and cause soil and water pollution.

The use of polythene bags can only be shunned if the Punjab government addressestheconcernsofthe shopkeepers and reduces the prices of biodegradable bags. Also, it is high time for the EPA, Punjab, to act upon the LHC directives and enforce a strict ban on the manufacturing, sale and usage of polythene bags.

Laiba Naveed Lahore