ENFORCEMENT OF PLASTIC WASTE BAN IN PAKISTAN: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF MUNICIPAL LAW AND REGULATORY CHALLENGES
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.64013/bbasrjlifess.v2026i1.69Keywords:
Plastic waste ban, Pakistan Environmental Protection Act (PEPA), Single-use plastics, Municipal enforcement, Regulatory challenges, Policy–implementation gapAbstract
Plastic waste has been identified as a key governance and environmental policy issue in Pakistan, where nearly 3.3 million tonnes of plastic waste are legally produced each year. This paper analyzes a new national and provincial policy regime beyond institutional and municipal-level controls, bans, or guidelines on plastic-waste ban enforcement in Pakistan. The paper uses a qualitative legal and policy analysis approach to highlight institutional challenges like gaps in institutional responsibilities, lack of enforcement capacity and weak waste-management infrastructure, co-ordination gaps among agencies, and gaps in the monitoring system for effective enforcement of plastic-waste bans at the municipal level, as well as some encouraging enforcement data since Pak-EPA operations in Islamabad (January 2026) and monitoring since Punjab EPA inspections were carried out. Lessons learned from experiences in Rwanda and Bangladesh on strong institutional mandates and monitoring suggest that effective plastic waste governance in Pakistan rests on an effective institutional setup, public-awareness campaigns, and alternatives to the BAN. This highly rapid and detailed attempt at regulatory setup has not been backed up by effective municipal-level enforcement capacity, since earlier experiences in other countries suggest the importance of clear mandates, role clarifications, and a national monitoring system of comparable standards to move towards sustainable plastic-waste governance.
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