Make laws in six months to ban polythene bags: LHC ruling

The petitioner-lawyer argued that polythene bags are being largely used by common people without taking into consideration the fact that it was posing serious threats to their heath. He said polythene bags contribute to flooding as they chock and clog the drainage system and spread diseases, causing soil infertility and destroy marine life. He said the monsoon season becomes the biggest problem for the people as drainage system is choked due to polythene bags, making Provincial and City governments helpless.

The petitioner said dumping and burning of polythene bags is not safe due to its non-degradable nature while recycling is a costly affair which is not possible due to limited resources available to the government. The petitioner said researchers say it takes thousands of years to decompose polythene material. Similarly burning of polythene bags release toxic gases that cause ill effects on health particularly could cause respiratory problems. He pointed out that certain groups having vested interests are deliberately making the society dependent on the polythene bags because they are making huge amount of money by creating environmental catastrophe.

The petitioner-lawyer said the government is not taking steps to create awareness among the people about the negative effects of polythene bags and encourage them to use alternatives like paper bags, jute bags and biodegradable bags.

He pointed out that in Bangladesh and Bombay the polythene bags were banned after they choked the drainage during flooding.

He said the respondent government is taking no step to curb use of polythene bags for household, commercial and industrial use of hazardous material. The Ministry of Environment and Environment Protection Agency are not aware of the danger of polythene bags.

The petitioner said he wrote letters to various departments but to no avail. He prayed to the court to prohibit the use of polythene bags and adopt alternate arrangements.