Research Objective:

“To evaluate the level of awareness of the harms of polythene bags

among the people and determine the feasibility of introducing of

paper/jute bags.”

Introduction:

This research focuses on a very common issue of our actual industrial

framework that is global warming. Environmental pollution is the main

problem of this century and it needs immediate detection and measures

in order to be solved. Environmentalists are worried about the

governmental policies about the pollution measures. Environmental

pollution is and is going to be a major dilemma of the future if it is not

fixed in time. Every individual or organization is concerned about their

short-term gains, but only a few cares about the impact of their short-

term gains on the long run and how it impacts the environnement.

In this report, we put a sincere effort to bring forward the serious issue

which is the use of plastic bags and how it harms and degrade the

natural environment. We strived to determine the level of consciousness

of individual about environmental pollution. This report will help you

understand the awareness level of people’s concern about the global

warming and how the polythene bags affect our environment.

What if the use of the plastic bags is discontinued, what consequences

we should be ready to face if it not.

This report highlights the consequences of using plastic bags in depth.

What role plastic bags play in our daily routine lives? A long meticulous

personal and telephonic survey has been conducted for this purpose.

Overview of the Plastic:

Every year, around 500 billion (500,000,000,000) plastic bags are used

throughout the world; over one million plastic bags are being used every

minute and they're impacting on our environment. India's plastics

consumption is one of the highest in the world, nevertheless little has

been done in order to recycle, re-use and dispose of plastic waste.

Plastic bags are difficult and costly to recycle for the governements,

thus most end up on landfill sites where they take up to 300 years to

degrade. They break-down into minuscule toxic particles that

contaminate the soil and water but also the food chain when animals

accidentally swallow them. The problems around the of waste plastic

bags begins long before they photo degrade into particules.

Plactics has been placed at the center of necessity by World War II. A

rubber substitute called vinyl was used by Allied troops for waterproof

tents and boots. Then, it was only in the 1950s that plastics began to

come into wide use in international arena; within few years, production

has boomed at a rate beyond compare. World consumption of plastics

is now comparable with the consumption of all non-ferrous metals.

Forecasts concerning the production of resins indicate that the

economies of many developed and developing countries are

increasingly relying on the use of plastics. In this regard the most

intractable problem relating to plastics and the environment has been so

far their disposal. Land filling on one hand is increasingly seen to pose

problems of environmental impact, because the availability of suitable

sites is decreasing day by day. Moreover, the leaching of the plastic

additives into the ground waters is now being questioned. On the other

hand, uncontrolled burning of plastics including polyethylene in the

dumping sites and other areas is not acceptable environment-wise. The

controlled incineration of plastic waste is also raising concerns in some

cases.

Polyethylene materials are not bio-degradable. Whenever a

polyethylene bag is thrown away, it does not decompose through

natural process. It contributes to the accumulation of non-destructive

waste of permanent nature. If anybody looks at any garbage dumping

site, he will observe this fact that although other garbage matter get

decomposed and merged into the soil but polyethylene bags remain

intact with their different colors especially the black colored polyethylene

bags. Polyethylene remains intact in the soil and disturbs the flow of

nutrients to the soil and hinders entering sunlight. It destroys the

beneficial bacteria of soil and losses soil fertility. It hinders the way of

soil compaction, which in the long run effects the construction of

foundation of the different structure.

The use of polyethylene is not environment friendly. Medical reports find

it as an agent of cancer, skin diseases and other health problems. The

users are more exposed to these types of health hazards when

polyethylene is used to pack bread, biscuits, potato chips or other food

items. In the developed countries, food is wrapped in food-graded

plastic or polyethylene, but in Bangladesh this was not strictly followed

and sometimes colorants are used, some of which may be

carcinogenic.

Polyethylene industries for shopping bag production emerged in

Bangladesh in early 80's and within a decade the industry reached in

such a level that the jute bag production forced to be almost closed.

The use of polyethylene shopping bags had been so enormous that one

could find the polyethylene bags everywhere i.e in the street,

dumpsites, drains, ditches, open-fields, roop tops, hanging from trees

and overhead cables, floating on ponds, canals, rivers.

Survey report showed that near about 10 million polyethylene bags

were used everyday and every year about 3000 million bags were

dumped in Dhaka City alone. The steadily growing use of polyethylene

bags posed an ominous environmental problem in the city as well as in

rural areas. This enormous use of polyethylene bags led to - severe

environmental impacts like soil degradation, loss of soil fertility, blocking

up of drainage and sewerage systems, causing water logging and the

spread of harmful microbes and bacteria. The worst example of adverse

effect caused due to polyethylene bags was the delaying process of

recession of flood water in Dhaka city during 1998.

One of the effective ways of management of polyethylene bags is

recycling/reuse of post-consumer polyethylene bags for other useful

purposes. But the state of recycling in Bangladesh again posed some

other environmental hazards and some means of transmission of

diseases. The burning of polythene in open air produces the threat of

poisonous gas like carbon mono-oxide, carbon di-oxide hydrogen

cyanide those causes health hazard to the people. The people who are

involved in collection of polythene bags are the most vulnerable group.

Basic Terms

What is recycling? What can we do?

Recycling means that we take products that have been used and turn

them into something else to use again.

Most of the things that we use every day are made from resources that

come from the earth, and that have been processed and turned into

other products. When we throw away these products (like a juice bottle,

for example), they normally end up in a landfill. Unfortunately, a lot of

the things that we use and throw away will never break down or

biodegrade. For example, when a plant dies, small organisms and

bacteria in the soil can break it down and return it into the soil to be

used by new plants. This process of decomposition is nature's way of

recycling. When we recycle items like a juice bottle, our wastes don't get

thrown into a landfill, but instead are re-used in other products.

Starting recycling programs at school is a great way help raise recycling

awareness in your community.

What is pollution?

There are many types of pollution happening today, even in your city.

One type of pollution we hear about a lot here in Santa Barbara is oil

pollution. This can be spillage or even leakage of processed oil into

oceans. Other types of pollution include air pollution (the layer of brown

clouds you see when you go to Los Angeles and other big cities).

Pollution from sewage and drainage into rivers and oceans also is a

serious problem for our environment. Finally, deforestation and industry

development can also be thought of as ways the environment is being

polluted.

How does pollution affect rivers, oceans, and our ecosystem?

Our rivers, lakes and oceans are affected by pollution in many ways. First and

foremost, the organisms that live in these places are often harmed by

pollution. The water can be polluted by chemical and product leaks, which

may cause the animals who live in the water to get sick. Animals who are high

up on the food chain can also get sick from toxic build up in their bodies from

eating other affected animals and plants. Air pollution also has very negative

effects on our atmosphere. There is a hole in our ozone due to pollution in the

air. If this hole gets bigger we won’t be as protected from the sunlight and it's

heat. Many years from now this could pose a serious threat to humans.

Secondary Research

Ban on use of Plastic Bags

Background:

Used plastic shoppers are notorious for choking sewer, open drainage

system spoiling sanitation and creating an overall unaesthetic view of

environment. The practice of burning them on street sides at dump sites

produces dioxins and furans, which are excessively and extensively

being inhaled by human beings. Due to their extreme toxicity of human

system, they are responsible for producing serious diseases under

universally accepted international requirement, dioxins and furans are

required to be absolutely absent in air. Because of polyethylene the raw

material being on-degradable in nature, the plastic bag continued to be

present in the environment and contribute their undesirable impacts for

a very extended period. Since they are extensively used in cities,

therefore, these adverse impacts are extremely visible in urban areas.

Plastic bags are favored for a number of their desirable properties such

as low weight, durability, and for a number of their other end uses like

convenience in packing food stuff and other multifarious items besides

virtually no cast to the end user that is customer. Where the very

characteristic cause tremendous rise in their use in day to day life there

at the same time unethical disposal of the used shopping bags adds to

the entire problem in totality. And the situation has appeared now in the

form of a menace to the environment in the form of choking of sewage

resulting in oozing out owe fully dirty water on streets making stinking

pools as good breeding grounds for a number of vectors of diseases

like flies and mosquitoes. These vectors spread diseases like cholera,

typhoid, diarrhea, awful odor, contamination of drinking water thus

further spreading these diseases and even hepatitis B and spoiling

sanitation more dominantly in the bigger cities of Pakistan.

Efforts

On the request of EPA-Sindh the Government Sindh imposed a ban on

the production. Sales, purchase and use of black polyethylene bags

form 26 August 1994. The Punjab Environmental protection department

imposed ban on black polyethylene bags from 5 June 1995.

The Baluchistan Government promulgated on ordinance on 19 February

2001 titled: “The Baluchistan prohibition on use and sale of polythene

bags ordinance 2001”, Prohibiting sales and use of polythene bags, in

the province. Since, no color of bag is specified; it transpires that, bags

of all colors have been banned. The department of industries, NWFP

has banned the manufacturer of polyethylene bags in the province.

Similarly, there is a Prime Minister of Islamic Republic of Pakistan

directive to impose a complete ban on use of polyethylene bags issued

wide PM’s Sectt.U.O.No.778/PSPM/97, dated 22-02-1997. This ban

extends to all type of shoppers including black one.

Anti-polythene Campaign in Pakistan

After years of appeals by citizens and environmentalists, the government of

Sindh moved against the offending bags in 2006 by introducing an ordinance

which later became the Sindh Prohibition of Manufacturing, Sale and Use of

Polythene Bags Act-2006. This prohibited the manufacture, sale and use of

black polythene bags, including any bags under 30 microns’ thickness, and

set the punishment at a three-month prison term, a fine of Rs50,000, or both.

On March 15, 2007, the Sindh environmental department and the City District

Government Karachi (CDGK) started cracking down on the manufacturers

and vendors of polythene bags in the banned category. Given that the

provincial environmental department was unable to frame rules in line with the

Act and also lacked the magisterial power required for the purpose, the ban

was enforced through Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC)

and on two different occasions, City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal ordered a

ban on the manufacture of such bags for 30 days.

However, under the provisions of the law, the city government may not invoke

Section 144 of the CrPc for the third consecutive time on the same subject,

claimed a source.

Shopkeepers can be seen using paper bags all over the city since a ban was

imposed on use of polythene bags by the Sindh government under section

144 on the request of the CDGK last week, which declared plastic bags a

threat to the cityís sewerage infrastructure and environment.

Despite facing problems in carrying goods purchased from shops, a majority

of citizens welcomed the move but demanded of the authorities to compel

shopkeepers to provide them merchandise in paper or cloth bags.

Burning of polythene bags was also causing environmental pollution, owing to

which the CDGK decided to ban both their use and manufacturing. Those

associated with the production of polythene bags were advised to switch over

to production of paper and cloth bags. if alternatives to polythene bags were

not promoted at this stage, the current campaign would just fizzle out like the

CDGK’s past initiative in this regard.

environmental pollution, plastic bags a threat to the cityís sewerage

infrastructure and environment

Effects of Anti-polythene Campaign:

Polythene bagsí manufacturers and their trading bodies have started

approaching the city administration to get some relief in manufacturing plastic

bags, arguing that they use these bags to pack shipments for exports to other

countries and provinces where the use of polythene bags was yet to be

banned.

The closure of manufacturing plants in days of economic recession would

result in joblessness of hundreds of workers.

Viewpoint

The manufacturers of the plastic bags oppose the ban on plastic bags,

arguing that, employment of thousands of person depends upon such

cottage industries, which manufacture polyethylene bags. The ban will

render many people jobless. They opine that in absence of polyethylene

bags, if papers are to be used then, it will involve cutting of more trees,

which is not advisable. The argue that this issue is basically that of

proper collection of the solid waste. If the waste is collected by the

municipal agencies on diurnal basis, then, there would be no

polyethylene bags in dust bins. Consequently, bags will not get air born,

to create nuisance. Collection of solid waste on diurnal basis will have a

beneficial impact. If all the solid wastes generated are collected

regularly, then the nuisance of plastic bags will be minimized to a large

extent. A committee was also constituted on the direction of Chief

Minister Punjab to technically review the whole issue.

Benefits of the Paper Bag

• 100% reusable, recyclable and biodegradable.

• Easier to carry than plastic bags.

• Holds more items than plastic bags = fewer bags to handle.

• Environmentally preferred.

• Contains 40% post-consumer recycled material.

• A renewable resource - comes from trees.

1. Paper is made from a renewable resource, trees. We can plant more trees,

and we do!

2. Paper grocery bags are strong enough to hold up to 20 pounds of groceries

without breaking—and can be reused again and again.

3. Paper grocery bags are made by workers in the paper factory (and recycled

by paper mills here too).

4. You'll have plenty of containers to put your used paper, cans, or bottles in

for recycling.

5. Your groceries won't slide all over the car on the way home.

6. You can be part of the Billion Bags Campaign to reuse and recycle paper

bags and boxes.

7. Paper bags are the shopper's choice (according to a survey by Willard

Bishop Consulting).

8. Paper bags are biodegradable (a plastic bag would still be in a landfill 1,000

years from now).

9. The messages on paper grocery bags are printed with water-based inks.

These inks are safer for the environment and make is easier for paper mills to

recycle the bags into new paper.

Some facts about Paper Bags

Paper Grocery Bags Are Great Recycling Containers For:

1. More paper grocery bags (and lunch and shopping bags)

2. Small pieces of corrugated (cardboard) boxes

3. Household paper (mail, notebook paper, magazines...)

4. Cans, glass jars and bottles, and plastic bottles that don't fit in recycling

bins (in some towns, you can use paper bags to separate items inside

recycling bins, too!).

5. Recycle bags and boxes together at curbside or drop-off recycling

sites.

Suggestions

1.) There is need to create an awareness and develop a thinking that an

individual made

a promise to himself as

a) I promise to recycle all the paper products collected in my community

(such as paper grocery bags, corrugated boxes, newspapers, milk cartons,

cereal boxes, mail, office paper, magazines, and catalogs).

b) I know the paper I recycle is used as a raw material to make new paper

products, so it is important to recycle right. I pledge to pay attention to my

community's recycling rules.

c) Because paper grocery bags can be reused and recycled, I promise to

say "Paper, Please" at the grocery store

Primary Research

In our primary research we tried to find out the awareness level among

people.

In this regard we use different techniques for getting information. The

following three survey techniques were used in the research process

O Personal Interviews

O Questionnaire

O Telephonic Survey

O Focus Group Discussion

Research Findings

Respondent’s Gender

Education

Frequency of Grocery shopping

Are you conscious about environmental pollution?

Do you agree that plastic bags are the cause of

environmental pollution?

If yes, then how plastic bags harms the environment

and individuals?

• Wasted not Destroyable

• Sewerage Problem

• Chemically Made

• Problem with disposing

• Land barren

• Health

Did you ever notice after using the plastic bag what

you did of it?

If yes, then what you did of it?

Throw in the Street 0

Keep with you for future purposes 16%

Look for dust bin to trash 77.7%

Not in list? Then…? 0

Do you know that suffocation of plastic bags can

harm children?

Should Plastic Bags be used in spite of its impact in

the environment?

Have you heard of the ban on Poly bags in some areas

of country and worldwide?

Do you think the decision to ban the use of plastic bag

is good and needed one?

Will a Complete Ban on Plastic Bag be acceptable?

By not Using the Plastic Bag…

You can tick more than one

Avoid the foreign exchange loss

incurred on import of chemicals

used in plastic bags production.

38%

Encourage Domestic Energy by

using cotton bag that is produced

with local material

72%

Generate employment opportunities

in textile

27.7%

Should a few plastic bag manufacturers be allowed to

derail a measure so important to public health?

What Difficulties you find in stopping the use of

plastic bags?

• Availability

• Liquid carrying

• Reusable bags are left at home

• If any alternative is available then no difficulty

• Political issues

Do you feel your social responsibility to say ”NO” to

plastic Bags?

Can you say NO to plastic bags at the time of

shopping and demand for other substitute?

According to you which is the best substitute to the

plastic bag?

Paper bags 5.55%

Jute Bags

(Cotton/cloth or Canvas)

72%

Both 27.7%

Do you Suggest any other substitute?

• Cloth Bags

• Wood Baskets

• Thick Plastic baskets

• If products are delivered at home no need for bag at all

Present Status:

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan environmental protection council PEPC in its

10th meeting decided to “conduct a study to tackle the issue of plastic

shopping bags” accordingly; the provinces were requested to implement the

decision. The Provincial Government while taking the significant of the issue

took necessary steps which includes

The Government of Punjab, Government of Sindh, and Government of

Baluchistan promulgated ordinances to prohibit manufacturing, sale,

use and import of black polythene bags or any other polythene below a

specific thickness.

O Restricted import of plastic waste, paring and scrap through import

policy.

O A continues awareness campaign through print media with a support of

NGOs for discouraging the use of plastic shopping bags, promotion of

alternative and its safe disposal.

O Under activity based capacity development ABCD project, one of the

objectives includes development of awareness campaign and other

strategies to address the management and safe disposal of plastic

wastes and shopping bags.

QUESTIONNAIRE

Name (Optional)

__________________________________________

Location

__________________________________________

Age

O 20-25

O 25-30

O 30-35

O 35-40

Education

O Matriculation

O Graduate

O Master

How frequently do you go for grocery shopping?

O Twice a Day

O Daily

O Twice a week

O Weekly

O Monthly

O __________

Are you conscious about environmental pollution?

Yes No Don’t Know

Do you agree that plastic bags are the cause of

environmental pollution?

Yes No Don’t Know

If yes, then how plastic bags harm the environment

and individuals?

Did you ever notice after using plastic bags what

you do of it?

Yes No Don’t Know

If yes, then what you do with it?

O Throw in the street

O Keep with you for future purchase

O Look for dust bin to trash

O Not in list? then

_________________________________________

Do you know that suffocation of plastic bag can

harm children?

Yes No Don’t Know

Should plastic bags be used in spite of its impact in

the environment?

Yes No Don’t Know

Have you heard of the ban on plastic bag in some areas of the country and worldwide?

Yes No Don’t Know

Do you think that decision to ban the use of plastic

bag is good and needed one?

Yes No Don’t Know

Will a complete ban on plastic bag be acceptable?

Yes No Don’t Know

By not using the plastic bags, we can *you

can tick more than one.

O Avoid the foreign exchange loss incurred on imported

chemicals used in plastic bag production.

O Encourage domestic industry by using cotton bag

that is produced with local material.

O Generate employment opportunities in textiles.

Should a few plastic bag manufacturers be allowed

to derail a measure so important to public health?

Yes No Don’t Know Strictly Not

What difficulties you find in stopping the use of

plastic bags?

Do you feel your social responsibility to say “NO” to

plastic bags?

Yes No Don’t Know

Can you say “NO” to plastic bag at the time of

shopping and demand for other substitutes?

Yes No Don’t Know

According to you, which is the best substitute for

plastic bag?

O Paper Bags

O Jute Bag (cotton/cloth/canvas)

O Both

Do you suggest any other substitute?

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

____________________________________________

Do you think that there is need to launch the

awareness campaign concerning the harms of

plastic bags?

Yes No Don’t Know

Do you think it is better option to bring your own shopping bag to market?

Yes No Don’t Know

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR

TAKING THE TIME

TO COMPLETE THIS

QUESTIONNAIRE

Summary and Conclusion

Our research topic was to find out the awareness level among people

that to what degree they inclined towards the environmental friendly

products. And in this regard are they familiar about the harms of

polythene bags. And whether they want to have some other alternative

available to take part practically towards the betterment of environment.

Limitations in research:

We took secondary as well as primary research to find out the level of

awareness among people. The limitations that we faced during research

are mentioned below. Even though Time, Money and Resources were

the ultimate constrains of the research.

Secondary Research:

In secondary research we use different alternatives like;

Internet

Magazines

Newspapers

Books on environmentalism

And the limitations were;

O We could not get the sufficient data related to our own country.

O Some websites were out of services

O Problem of fit between the data available and data requires

O Geographical Locations were also one of the constrains to know

about people perception and behavior about global warming and

environmental friendly products.

Primary Research:

Our primary research comprises of

Questionnaire:

We get the questionnaire from the students of IMS and the employees

of The Bank Alfalah. But the major problem we faced was;

Non-response error

Ignorance: People do not know much about the sensitivity

of the product but they try to reach very genius.

Like when they were asked whether do you agree that

plastic bags cause environment pollution? They replied

with positive node. But when it was asked how? They were

speechless.

Telephoning Survey:

In telephoning survey we used personal phone book to know about

people behavior. And in this tool we face a problem

Courtesy Biasness: The respondents did not answer what they

perceived based on their knowledge and perception, rather they

answered what we want.

Conclusion:

We conclude that whether the use of plastic bags is seriously injurious

for the environment but according to research there are some

advantages and disadvantages of polythene bags:

Disadvantages of stopping polythene bag use

The participants mentioned some difficulties in stopping polythene bag

use. Some shopkeepers said that a few shoppers refuse to buy goods

from them now, looking elsewhere for someone who will give them a

polythene bag. Shoppers also said that it is difficult to carry fish and

certain dry goods like rice and dal, and to wrap items to store in the

refrigerator.

Participants also said that they face problems when wishing to buy

something, if they do not happen to have a bag with them.

“It is impossible to take a bag with you to the office,” explained one

man. The men explain that now when they leave home, they must stop

and think, Where am I going? Will I buy anything?” However, the

general consensus was that it is simply a matter of breaking a habit,

and that the difficulty will only last a few days.

“The difficulty will last a few days, but it will be good for the future.”

In general, participants also felt that while polythene bags are bad for

the environment, they are far more convenient than current alternatives.

One man in particular expressed a wish for biodegradable one-use

bags. However, others expressed the feeling that one-use bags are

always bad for the environment. They still take time to biodegrade, and

thus could still block drains. If they are produced with chemicals they

will be bad for the environment, and if they utilize imported materials,

then they will be a drain on the economy, as opposed to the use of jute

bags.

Advantages of stopping polythene bag use:

Some of the shopkeepers even expressed pleasure, complaining that

previously customers insisted on having a polythene bag with each

purchase—one banana, one bag; one egg, one bag. It is now easier for

them to refuse such demands. The participants seem to enjoy reviving

the use of jute bags.

One man expressed great pleasure at the ban, discussing the economic

as well as environmental advantages. He explained that since raw

materials are imported for production of polythene bags, and since the

bags are produced by machines and thus require little labor, there are

two economic disadvantages: loss of foreign exchange to import raw

materials, and few employment gains. He contrasted those problems

against the advantages of jute bags, which are produced with local

materials and employ far more people in their production

Recommendations:

To eliminate the problems being faced and to alleviate the solution, possible

recommendations are:

O Since, employment of many people depends on this industry, any

major action may render the people jobless, there is need to encourage

these people to adopt alternate substitutes.

O All solid waste generated, should be collected strictly on diurnal basis.

O The top three forth portion of the dust bins should be covered. This will

obstruct the flight of polyethylene bags.

O Options of biodegradable bags should be carefully considered.

O Since, the bags get air bone. Due its light weight the manufacture of

bags with adequate thickness be allowed to prevent its flight. The

Islamic Republic of Pakistan’s standard institution may prescribe the

thickness and the quality of the bags.

O Arrangements with plastic manufacturers may be made, who could set

up recycling centers, where they can buy the used plastic bags. These

can then be recycled.

The city government, along with the plastic manufactures may start a mass

awareness program on a large scale. This will, at least, prevent the house

wives from the throwing the plastic bags outside of their homes.

O LIST OF SOURCES

O RESOURCE CONTSTRAINTS

O ACCURACY AND IMPORTANCE OF THE SOURCES

O www.environment.gov.pk

O www.climatecrisis.net

O www.iso.14000

O www.epa.gov

O www.globalfootprints.org

O www.naturalnews.com

O www.environment-agency.gov.uk

O www.google.com

O www.images.google.com

O www.epaper.dawn.com

O Strategic Management

By: Fred. R. David.

O An Inconvenient Truth

The movie

O Lectures by Ms. Zarin Shoaib. Term fall 2008.