While Pakistan is still grappling with an ever increasing number of Covid-19 cases, it is facing another impending environmental and health disaster as thousands of tons of global Covid-19 plastic waste may end up in the country in the absence of a ban on plastic waste imports.
Industry sources told Business Recorder that Pakistan imports end of life contaminated plastic waste, such as used sewerage pipes, used chemical containers, plastic bottles and several other hazardous plastic waste items, from all around the world. According to sources, import consignments of the permissible plastic scrap should undergo three major checks, including environmental approval of plastic scrap recycling facility by the respective federal or provincial environmental protection agencies (EPAs), annual environmental audit report and pre-shipment inspection from the exporting countries.
However, due to ineffective implementation of Import Policy Order conditions and no extensive testing by the inspection agencies as defined in the Basel Convention, even hazardous plastic scrap and garbage are imported into the country in the form of granules and flakes, posing a serious environmental and health risk to the citizens. Hundreds of imported garbage containers can be found at the Port Qasim Terminal, within the jurisdiction of Port Qasim Customs Collectorate.
In the current global pandemic, there is a heightened risk that Covid-19 plastic waste will be destined for Pakistan as other Asian countries have already imposed a ban on the import of plastic waste. China, India, Thailand, and Malaysia are among these countries who have taken this measure in recent years in wake of the environmental and health hazards. As a result, imported plastic waste from Covid-19 affected nations of USA, UK, Germany, Italy, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, among others, will be dumped in Pakistan.
These countries are at the epicenter of Covid-19 crisis, with more than two million confirmed virus cases and 130,000 deaths from the disease. Due to the health emergency, they are expected to generate several thousand tons of contaminated plastic waste that may be shipped to developing countries like Pakistan.
Data reveals that plastic waste imports by Pakistan have surged in recent years. From Jan 2019 to April this year, Pakistan has already imported around 65,000 metric tons of plastic waste. In 2018, plastic waste imports surged by 30 percent to reach nearly 47,000 metric tons. Meanwhile, in 2017, the figures swelled by more than 200 percent to approximately 36,000 tons in comparison to the previous year.
The imported plastic waste will add to the already heaps of medical waste, contaminated with Covid-19 infectious materials, generated by Pakistan in the last few months. Currently, the Covid-19 hospital waste is largely unregulated and there are no rules and regulations for disposal of these hazardous items. As a result, the hospital staff and handlers of this plastic waste are at an increased risk of contracting the highly contagious virus.
Activist groups have called upon the Ministry of Climate Change to consult all relevant stakeholders and address this matter on a priority basis as a public health and safety issue. They urged the authorities to introduce a complete ban on plastic scrap imports to protect Pakistan from another environmental and health disaster after the Covid-19 pandemic.
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