Plastic bags banned in Sindh from today

KARACHI: The government of Sindh has banned plastic bags across the province which goes into effect from today.

According to a notification, the provincial government invoked the Sindh Prohibition of Non-degradable Plastic Products and the Sindh Environment Protection Act 2014.

The notification was tweeted by the Senator stating, “The provincial government is pleased to impose a complete ban on the manufacturing, sales, purchase, and use of non-degradable plastic bags of all size.”

Notification banning manufacture, sale and use of non biodegradable plastic/shopping bags in the province has been issued by Sindh Govt #Environment pic.twitter.com/FTHBKxoses

— SenatorMurtaza Wahab (@murtazawahab1) September 30, 2019

The notification states that whoever sells or uses plastic bags would be punished with a fine, and in case of continuing contravention or failure with an additional fine which may extend to Rs10,000 for every day during which such contravention continues.

According to Wahab, violations of the ban would be treated as a social crime and legal action would be taken against sellers and manufacturers of prohibited plastic bags under the law.

Read also: Zartaj Gul promises complete ban on plastic bags

Earlier in August, the Sindh government announced plans to place a complete ban on plastic bags throughout the province from October.

An ordinary plastic bag takes 400 to 1,000 years to degenerate and almost every piece of plastic ever produced still exists in some form in our environment.