ISLAMABAD, Sep 30 (APP):Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Vice President Senator Sherry Rehman Wednesday said that plastic pollution should not be treated merely as a waste-management issue, stressing the need to address the entire lifecycle of plastic from production and consumption to disposal and recycling. Addressing the ICEPP Parliamentary Forum for Exchange on Plastic Pollution via Zoom, she said more than 9 billion tonnes of plastic had been produced globally, while …
Plastic pollution requires action beyond recycling: Sherry Rehman
ISLAMABAD, Sep 30 (APP):Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Vice President Senator Sherry Rehman Wednesday said that plastic pollution should not be treated merely as a waste-management issue, stressing the need to address the entire lifecycle of plastic from production and consumption to disposal and recycling.
Addressing the ICEPP Parliamentary Forum for Exchange on Plastic Pollution via Zoom, she said more than 9 billion tonnes of plastic had been produced globally, while only around nine percent of plastic waste was recycled.
She said recycling alone could not resolve the problem as plastic production and consumption continued to increase. Plastic production also contributed around 3.4 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, she added.
Senator Sherry Rehman said Pakistan faced a major implementation gap regarding laws regulating single-use plastics. Alongside legislation, effective enforcement and affordable alternatives were essential, she stressed.
She said Pakistan’s waste collection and disposal system was struggling to cope with the growing volume of plastic waste. Instead of placing the entire burden on consumers, affordable and environmentally friendly alternatives should be made available.
The senator warned that plastic pollution had become a serious threat to rivers, coastal areas and waterways. She said plastic constituted around 40 percent of the solid waste entering the Indus River, with thousands of tonnes of plastic reaching the Arabian Sea through the river every year.
She further noted that microplastics were increasingly entering water, the environment and the food chain.
Senator Sherry Rehman called for a transparent record of plastic production, imports, consumption and recycling in Pakistan, saying the country’s plastic recycling rate was around one percent.
She said plastic manufacturers should also bear responsibility for waste generated after their products were used. Packaging, she added, needed to be designed in a way that made it reusable and recyclable.
She stressed that plastic pollution, climate change, public health and infrastructure challenges were interconnected. Although Pakistan’s share of global carbon emissions was less than one percent, the country was facing severe environmental challenges.
Senator Sherry Rehman said Parliament must ensure effective implementation of laws concerning plastic pollution and called for coordinated national and international efforts to address the issue.
“Plastic pollution must not be considered someone else’s problem; it has to be treated as a shared responsibility,” she said.
