Faisalabad widens plastic bag crackdown to markets

FAISALABAD: Authorities in Faisalabad have expanded enforcement against banned single-use plastic bags beyond factories, moving directly against wholesalers, retailers, street vendors, transporters and concealed storage points in an effort to disrupt supply reaching local markets.

Faisalabad Environment Protection Department Deputy Director Usman Azhar said the department had made the ban on single-use plastic shopping bags a top priority. He said around 14 tonnes of banned plastic material had been seized across Faisalabad since last year, while nearly Rs2 million in fines had been imposed and recovered from violators.

Azhar said about 50 first information reports had also been registered over non-compliance. He added that enforcement teams had faced resistance during several operations, and one EPD official was critically injured during anti-plastic raids.

Setting out the focus of the campaign, Azhar said, "Our objective is to ensure that markets are completely free of shopping bags with a thickness of less than 75 microns." Officials said the revised approach was meant to break the distribution chain of banned plastic bags, which were still finding their way into markets despite curbs on production.