Drive launched to make capital plastic-free
islamabad — In an effort to make Islamabad “clean and green”, the senate subcommittee on climate change launched a campaign to make Islamabad plastic-free by August 14, say media reports.
The announcement was made by the chairman of the subcommittee senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed at a meeting at Comsats University.
During the meeting, the subcommittee sought support of the students and faculty for the cause.
He also announced that the committee would seek to finalise a landfill site for the disposal of garbage and waste in the capital besides field visits during Ramadan for cleaning nullahs and other sites in Islamabad which had been encroached. The senator asked Comsats to prepare a media awareness plan to achieve the objective of clean and green Islamabad with the support of students, media, civil society and the citizens.
Senator Sayed said climate change was amongst Pakistan’s biggest challenges which could only be met collectively above party lines.
The meeting at Comsats chalked out a work plan for the visit of various localities in Islamabad during the holy month of Ramadan.
The subcommittee was informed that the plan to rid the environment of plastic would begin from the federal capital starting from the parliament building and then extending to government departments before the exercise was replicated in other cities.
During a meeting of the National Assembly standing committee on climate change last week, secretary climate change Hassan Nasir Jamy said planning was underway to ban plastic bags in the capital from August 14.
Manufacturers of plastic bags and other items would use this
time to switch to environmentfriendly alternatives such as paper and bags made from cloth.
He said the members that the ministry was particularly banning oxy-biodegradable, introduced into the local market eight years ago, which was as harmful as an ordinary plastic bags.