PUBLISHED on November 2, 2025
Despite the ban on polythene bags, they are still produced, sold and used in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP), rues Seema Babar, a social worker who makes cloth bags and distributes them free among people, to discourage the use of plastic bags and protect the environment from its harmful effects.
Babar, 49, 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.
“A few years ago, when the provincial government banned the manufacturing and sale of plastic bags in the province, I decided to make cotton bags and distribute them among people to create awareness and promote the use of cloth bags, instead of plastic, which causes pollution. I first started this initiative in my village and then expanded the campaign to the main town and other parts of Nowshera district,” Seema Babar told The Express PAkGazette.
She runs a women’s skills center in her village, where women and girls come to learn sewing and other craft skills.
“During the training, participants first make cloth bags from various types of old, raw cloth provided by relatives and neighbors. The bags carry anti-plastic and awareness slogans. After the initial training, they practice sewing clothes and learn other skills,” he said.
He added that in the past the greatest plastic pollution was seen in urban areas, but now waste can also 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 imposed, people took our campaign seriously,” he says. “But with time, most of them do not pay attention to 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 the community to adopt reusable bags instead of plastic bags.
According to Muhammad Tahir, a vegetable seller in Mardan city, when the provincial government imposed a ban on polythene bags, the use of non-biodegradable bags decreased and vendors and traders started using biodegradable plastic bags instead.
“However, due to the low durability of biodegradable bags, lack of government control and customer demand, non-biodegradable bags have made a comeback and are openly used for daily shopping,” he added.
A single cotton bag should be reused. 50 to 150 times have a lower environmental impact than a single-use plastic bag, according to a 2020 United Nations report. However, the exact number depends on the specific impact being measured, as a UK study found that a cotton bag must 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 constantly reusing them, since the production of a cotton bag consumes more energy than a plastic one.
Without a doubt, cotton bags have 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 further, driving positive change towards a greener and more environmentally conscious future. By choosing cotton bags, consumers can make a tangible difference by reducing plastic waste and promoting a more sustainable way of living.
In 2017, the KP provincial government banned the use of polythene bags. However, after several litigations, amendments were introduced in 2022 to the KP Environmental Protection Act 2014, which imposed a complete ban on plastic shopping bags across the province.
According to KP Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials, letters have been 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 of the province were also instructed to carry out operations against the use of these dangerous bags, they added. The EPA has prosecuted manufacturing units and wholesale distributors that 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 around 500 tonnes of solid waste from 42 union councils in Peshawar district every day, which is then dumped at a licensed site on the outskirts of the provincial capital, Peshawar.
The data shows that the waste is made up of 10 percent plastic, 49 percent biodegradable materials, 9.4 percent paper and 11 percent wood, among other materials.
According to the company, waste is managed scientifically by covering it with soil and spraying it before disposal. A sanitary landfill has also been created to ensure that groundwater reserves are not contaminated by waste.
Babar said that in the initial days of the campaign, the district administration and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) supported his cause and extended their help, but with time, their interest waned.
He added that even the use of biodegradable polythene bags is no longer seen as people are seen using non-biodegradable bags which create pollution.
“In the early days of the plastic bag ban, the district administration and NGOs organized awareness sessions in different areas in which we were also involved,” he says. “But now these activities are no longer carried out and we took the initiative to carry out awareness campaigns independently.”
“Our mission to promote the use of cotton bags instead of plastic bags is still ongoing,” shares Babar. “The women who work at my center, along with my neighbors and family, 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 tonnes of plastic waste in 2020, of which more than 65 percent was mismanaged. The report also states that 18 percent of municipal solid waste produced in Pakistan is plastic. Only three percent of the 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.
On the adverse impact of polythene bags on the environment, Professor Dr. Muhammad Nafees Khan, faculty member, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Peshawar, told The Express PAkGazette that regular use of polythene bags was a big threat to the environment.
He added that when they are burned they pollute the air, when they are thrown into rivers they contaminate the water and endanger aquatic life and when they are thrown on land they cause a reduction in crop production.
Dr Khan added that placing food with 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, upon entering the human body through respiration, can affect the lungs,” he said, adding that due to clogging of drainage systems, they are also causing urban flooding in urban areas.
He mentioned that the best alternative to these dangerous bags are cotton bags and highlighted that awareness is very important to promote their use.
“To reduce and control plastic waste, discarded polythene bags should be converted into waste-derived fuel (RDF) for use in large industries such as steel mills, cement factories and other industrial units that require high temperatures for their production,” he suggests. “This approach will help keep the environment free of plastic waste, while industries will benefit from a cheaper energy source.”
Dr Syed Waqas Ali Shah, a faculty member at the Department of Environmental Sciences at Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan, told The Express PAkGazette that plastic bags have a detrimental impact on both climate change and natural habitats. Since polyethylene bags were made from fossil fuels, he explained that the industries that produce them emit large amounts of greenhouse gases, contributing to global warming and air pollution.
“Due to their ease of use, the consumption of these dangerous bags is also on a large scale. According to a report, around one million plastic bags are used every minute across the world. In developing countries like Pakistan, most of them are thrown away in open spaces instead of being recycled, which has adverse effects on the environment, ecosystems and living beings as well,” he says.
Syed Waqas Ali Shah pointed out that due to rapid production of plastic bags in large quantities, more space is taken up in landfills and dumping them on the ground causes frequent blockage of drains and waterways in both villages and urban areas as their decomposition takes hundreds of years.
He said that when these bags flow into rivers and seas they contaminate the water and endanger marine life.
“Many aquatic animals consume plastic bags thinking they are food, which affects their stomachs and intestines and often leads to death. In the rivers of Peshawar Valley, we once observed a population of turtles that has now almost disappeared. In other countries, similar species have become rare due to the presence of plastic bags in rivers and seas,” Shah explained.
He suggested that along with implementing 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 situated near the Kabul River in Nowshera district, residents are vulnerable to flooding during the monsoon season. Apart from manufacturing cloth bags, Babar has also taken initiatives to address the adverse impacts of climate change, which have changed the pattern and severity of rainwater level in rivers.
“As a district youth coordinator, I have formed several groups of young women who undergo training and visit local communities to create awareness on climate change, tree plantations, energy saving and water conservation in Nowshera district,” she shares, adding that these members also organize free plants for plantation drives and coordinate with the district administration to participate in government sessions.
Abdur Razzaq is a multimedia journalist based in Peshawar. He tweets @TheAbdurRazzaq
All facts and information are the sole responsibility of the writer.
