‘Govt takes extensive steps to combat plastic menace’

Islamabad: Coordinator to Prime Minister on Climate Change Romina Khurshid Alam said the government is taking all-out measures in collaboration with all provincial governments for tackling the menace of the plastic to protect public health.

In a statement issued, she said tackling microplastic pollution is a national priority.

Romina Khurshid said managing plastics throughout their product life-cycle and reducing the use of plastics to move towards a more sustainable plastics economy is critical to mitigate the accumulation of micro-plastics in the environment.

Referring to a recent study on Microplastic Human Dietary Uptake, she highlighted that microplastics are now globally a growing environmental and public health concern.

According to details of the study findings, Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines top the global per capita list of dietary uptakes of microplastics, while China, Mongolia and the United Kingdom top the list of countries that breathe the most microplastics.

The Prime Minister's aide suggested that removing most of aquatic plastic debris by water management for surface water quality control could significantly mitigate human microplastic exposure.

She said that replacing the single-use polyolefin plastic material with innovative, highly degradable alternatives could help contain the release of microplastics from packaging materials, especially in beverages.