WNAM REPORT: Vice President of PPP and Chair of Senate Standing Committee on Climate Change Senator Sherry Rehman has sought to ban the growing use of plastic covers on every book in Pakistan, calling it an environmentally harmful and dangerously new toxic practice . Senator Rehman stated that “Plastic is a forever chemical which is a huge environmental toxin. It cannot be introduced into our daily lives in a new retail endeavour to keep single use plastics in circulation when the world is discarding it.”
Advocating for her bill during a meeting of the Interior Senate Standing Committee, Senator Sherry Rehman underscored the importance of protecting our environment and public health from a toxic new trend of wrapping books routinely in plastic , despite the severe environmental and health consequences associated with plastic use. She noted that plastic is known now to be the “forever chemical ” that can take up to 1,000 years to fully decompose and is a major contributor to human health crises as well as environmental disasters. “It is a terrible hazard to public health because it chokes our rivers, storm drains landfills and coastlines, leaving more chemical and micro plastics in our food, soil, water and environment than we of the planet can sustain. While we struggle to put just Islamabad on the journey to be free of single use plastics , we now how book distributors and retailers now resorting to this totally unnecessary mass adoption of plastic for “covers” which is a bizarre reversal of environmental safeguards that should govern our consumption habits.
Senator Rehman emphasized that booksellers and publishers must take responsibility for discouraging this habit by discontinuing the use of plastic wrapping. She urged authorities to provide a clear and reasonable time frame to book sellers to ensure the complete phase-out of plastic covers.
Citing alarming global statistics, she stated that over 7 billion tons of plastic waste have been generated worldwide, of which only 9 percent has been recycled. In Pakistan, the situation is even more critical, with only 1 percent of plastic waste being recycled — a figure she described as dangerously low.
“If the Senate can give up plastic, then bookshops can do the same,” Senator Rehman remarked, underscoring the need for collective action to protect the environment.
The Interior Senate Standing Committee unanimously passed Senator Sherry Rehman’s bill aimed at preventing the use of plastic covers on books, marking a significant step forward in Pakistan’s efforts to reduce plastic pollution and promote sustainable practices.
