The Punjab government has amended the Single-Use Plastic Production and Consumption Act 2023, under which ‘District Plastic Management Committees’ will be established in each district of the province.

Such committees would consist of officers from 12 different departments and would be headed by the deputy commissioner of the respective district.

The Punjab government has issued a gazette notification of the amendment, which also includes the process of registering factories manufacturing plastic shopping bags. The registration fee has also been changed while the committees would provide legal assistance to shopping bag manufacturers and would also run a public awareness campaign to reduce the use of plastic bags.

They would promote alternative solutions to plastic bags and would be in constant contact with public representatives. Moreover, action would be taken against factories manufacturing substandard plastic bags.