PUBLISHED November 2, 2025
Despite the ban on polythene bags, they are still being produced, sold and used across Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP), laments Seema Babar, a social worker who makes cloth bags and distributes them free to people, to discourage the use of plastic bags and protect the environment from their harmful effects.
49-year-old Babar from Pirpai village of Nowshera district in KP has been leading an initiative to reduce plastic waste in our society for the past six years or so.
“Some years ago, when the provincial government banned the manufacture and sale of plastic bags in the province, I decided to make cotton bags and distribute them among people to raise awareness and promote the use of cloth bags instead of plastic that causes pollution. “I first started this initiative in my village and later extended the campaign to the main town of Bamabar and other parts of Noweshera district,” See Express told.
She runs a women’s skills center in her village, where women and young girls come to learn sewing and other handicrafts.
“During the training, participants first make fabric bags from different types of raw and old fabric provided by relatives and neighbors. The bags have anti-plastic and awareness slogans. After the initial training, they practice sewing clothes and learn other skills,” she said.
She added that previously most plastic pollution was seen in urban areas, but now the waste can be seen in fields, crops and irrigation canals in rural areas, affecting the environment where people once breathed fresh air and enjoyed lush greenery.
“When the ban on the use of plastic bags was introduced, people took our campaign seriously,” she says. “But over time, most of them are not aware of our cause and have gone back to using polythene bags.”
While sharing people’s reactions, she said that when she and her team distributed cotton bags, many people accepted them with a smile, reflecting how a small group of women could change the mindset of society to take reusable bags instead of plastic bags.
According to Muhammad Tahir, a vegetable seller in the city of Mardan, the use of non-biodegradable bags decreased when the provincial government imposed a ban on polythene bags, and instead, vendors and traders mostly started using biodegradable plastic bags.
“However, due to the low shelf life of biodegradable bags, lack of government oversight and customer demand, non-biodegradable bags have made a comeback and are being openly used for daily shopping,” he added.
A single cotton bag must be recycled 50 to 150 times to have a lower environmental impact than a single-use plastic bag, according to a 2020 UN report. However, the exact number depends on the specific impact being measured, as a UK study found that a cotton bag needs to be used 131 times to offset climate change and thousands of times to achieve a comparable overall environmental impact. The effectiveness of cotton bags depends on consumers consistently reusing them, as the production of one cotton bag is more energy-intensive than one plastic bag.
Cotton bags have undoubtedly transformed consumer trends by offering a sustainable and practical alternative to single-use plastic bags. As consumers continue to prioritize sustainability in their purchasing decisions, the popularity of cotton bags is expected to grow even more, driving positive change towards a greener and more environmentally conscious future. By choosing cotton bags, consumers can make a tangible difference in reducing plastic waste and promoting a more sustainable lifestyle.
In 2017, the KP provincial government banned the use of polythene bags. However, following a number of court cases, in 2022 amendments were introduced to the KP Environmental Protection Act 2014, which enforced a complete ban on plastic shopping bags across the province.
According to KP Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials, letters were sent to development authorities such as Galiyat Development Authority, Kaghan Development Authority and Kumrat Development Authority to ensure implementation of the ban in all jurisdictions.
All commissioners across the province were also asked to conduct operations against the use of these dangerous bags, they added. The EPA has been prosecuting manufacturing units and wholesalers who violated the law and soon these powers will also be delegated to deputy and assistant commissioners, officials said.
According to data obtained from The Water and Sanitation Services Company Peshawar (WSSP), the company collects about 500 tons of solid waste every day from 42 union councils in the district Peshawar, which is then dumped at an authorized site on the outskirts of the provincial capital Peshawar.
The data shows that the waste consists of 10 percent plastic, 49 percent biodegradable materials, 9.4 percent paper and 11 percent wood.
According to the company, the waste is handled scientifically by covering it with soil and spraying it before disposal. A sanitary landfill has also been established to ensure that underground water reserves are not contaminated by the waste.
Babar said that in the early days of the campaign, the district administration and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) supported her cause and extended their help, but with time, their interest has waned.
She added that even the use of biodegradable polythene bags is not seen anymore as people are seen using non-biodegradable bags which created pollution.
“In the early days of the plastic bag ban, the district administration and NGOs organized awareness sessions in various areas in which we also participated,” she says. “But now such activities no longer take place, and we are taking the initiative to carry out information campaigns independently.”
“Our mission to promote the use of cotton bags instead of plastic bags still continues,” says Babar. “The women who work at my center, along with my neighbors and relatives, still use cotton bags, which is very important to raise awareness and discourage the use of plastic bags.”
According to the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) 2023 report, Pakistan produced 3.9 million tons of plastic waste in 2020, of which over 65 percent was mismanaged. The report also states that 18 percent of municipal solid waste produced in Pakistan is plastic. Only three percent of plastic used by the manufacturing industry in Pakistan is recycled material.
In 2019, the Pakistan Environmental Protection Agency (Pak-EPA) imposed a ban on the manufacture, import, sale, purchase, storage and use of polythene bags in the Islamabad Capital Territory.
About the negative impact of polyethylene bags on the environment, Professor Dr. Muhammad Nafees Khan, a faculty member of the Department of Environmental Sciences at the University of Peshawar, told The Express Pakinomist that the regular use of polythene bags was a major threat to the environment.
He added that when burned, they cause air pollution, when thrown into rivers, they pollute the water and endanger aquatic life, and when dumped in the ground, they cause reduced crop production.
Dr. Khan added that placing food at a temperature of 20 to 25 degrees Celsius in polythene bags can cause cancer in the human body as cancer-causing aldehyde compounds leach from the bag into the food.
“When plastic bags are exposed to ultraviolet radiation and water, they break down into microplastics, which, when they enter the human body through breathing, can affect the lungs,” he said, adding that by choking drainage systems, they also cause urban flooding.
He mentioned that the best alternative to these dangerous bags are cotton bags and emphasized that it is very important to raise awareness to promote their use.
“To reduce and control plastic waste, discarded polythene bags should be converted into Refuse-Derived Fuel (RDF) for use in large industries such as steel mills, cement plants and other industrial units that require high temperatures for production,” he suggests. “This approach will help keep the environment free of plastic waste, while industries will benefit from a cheaper source of energy.”
Dr. Syed Waqas Ali Shah, a faculty member in the Department of Environmental Sciences at Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, told The Express Pakinomist that plastic bags have a detrimental impact on both climate change and natural habitats. Since polythene bags were made from fossil fuels, he explained, the industries that produce them emit large amounts of greenhouse gases, which contribute to global warming and air pollution.
“Due to their ease of use, the consumption of these hazardous bags is also on a large scale. According to a report, around one million plastic bags are used worldwide every minute. In developing countries like Pakistan, most of them are dumped in open areas instead of being recycled, which has negative effects on the environment, ecosystems and also living beings,” he says.
Syed Waqas Ali Shah pointed out that due to the rapid production of plastic bags in large quantities, more landfill space is taken up and dumping them on the ground causes frequent clogging of drains and waterways both in villages and urban areas as it takes hundreds of years to decompose.
He said when these bags flowed into rivers and oceans, they polluted water and endangered marine life.
“Many aquatic animals ingest plastic bags thinking they are food, which affects their stomachs and intestines and often leads to their death. In the rivers of the Peshawar valley, we once observed a population of turtles that have now almost disappeared. In other countries, similar species have become rare due to the presence of plastic bags in rivers and seas,” explained Shah.
He suggested that along with the implementation of laws, it is also crucial to raise public awareness about the dangers of polythene bags and impose heavy taxes on their production.
As Babar’s village, Pirpai, is located near the Kabul River in Nowshera district, residents are vulnerable to floods during the monsoon season. Besides making fabric bags, Babar has also taken initiatives to address the adverse effects of climate change, which has changed the pattern and severity of rainfall water levels in rivers.
“As the district youth coordinator, I have formed several groups of young women who receive training and visit communities to raise awareness about climate change, tree planting, energy conservation and water conservation in Nowshera district,” she says, adding that these members also arrange free plants for plantation drives and coordinate with the district administration to attend government meetings.
Abdur Razzaq is a Peshawar-based multimedia journalist. He tweets @TheAbdurRazzaq
All facts and information are solely the responsibility of the author
