Islamabad has banned single-use plastic bags since August 14, 2019. The scope expanded significantly in 2023 when the Single-Use Plastics (Prohibition) Regulations broadened the ban to include straws, crockery, cutlery, food containers, and stirrers. In May 2025, Pak-EPA and the ICT administration intensified enforcement with inspection drives across commercial zones.
Despite six years of regulation, the results are mixed. A survey revealed that more than 60% of household garbage in Islamabad comprises polythene bags while 30% comprises plastic bottles. The crackdown is real but the compliance gap is equally real.
The regulatory timeline: 2019 to 2023
To control the high rates of plastic pollution in Pakistan’s capital, the government imposed a ban on single-use plastic bags in August 2019.
That first ban, issued as SRO 92(KE)/2019 dated July 22, 2019, prohibited the manufacture, import, distribution, sale, purchase, storage and usage of polythene bags in Islamabad Capital Territory.
The ban was imposed on August 14, 2019, but its enforcement faced a halt due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. Implementation wavered for years before being renewed periodically.
In June 2023, the government announced a much broader framework. The Single Use Plastics Prohibition Regulations apply to the Islamabad Capital Territory, for phasing out and prohibiting the use of various single-use plastic items, namely polythene bags, drinking straws, crockery, cutlery, and food and beverage containers for delivery and stirrers.
What is banned now
The 2023 regulations cover far more than bags.
Immediate bans
From August 1, 2023, the following items became prohibited in Islamabad: single-use polythene bags (both carrier and flat bags), plastic crockery including plates, bowls, cups, and glasses, plastic cutlery including forks, knives, spoons, and chopsticks, plastic food service ware including lidded containers, boxes, and stirrers.
Phased bans
Drinking straws were given a deadline of 2025, while plastic beverage containers were allowed until 2028.
The regulations require that from August 2028 beverage containers must include at least 50% environmentally safe recycled content.
There are five exempted uses for which manufacture and import of polythene flat bags remain allowed, subject to authorization from Pak-EPA. These include specific industrial and food-grade packaging uses that require formal applications, recycling plans, and authorization fees.
Read more: Punjab rolls out Hawk Eye project for real-time pollution monitoring by drones
Fine structure: who pays what
The penalties are tiered based on the type of violator.
In case of violation of law, an individual would be fined Rs5,000, a manufacturer Rs100,000 and a shopkeeper Rs10,000.
Under the original 2019 polythene bag regulations, fines can go up to Rs500,000 for serious violations. The 2023 regulations maintain a similar penalty structure but apply it across a broader range of products.
These fines may seem low compared to the volumes of plastic still in circulation. But Pak-EPA frames them as a behavioral tool rather than a revenue measure.
The 2025 enforcement crackdown
In May 2025, the enforcement campaign became noticeably more aggressive.
The crackdown is spearheaded by Pak-EPA in collaboration with the ICT administration. Ministry spokesperson Mohammad Saleem Shaikh said multiple inspection drives had been carried out across the federal capital’s commercial zones, including bakeries, hotels, plastic suppliers, and local vendors.
The numbers from specific operations paint a clear picture:
On May 22, inspections at markets including G-9 Peshawar Morr, Safa Gold Mall, and Rana Market (F-7/2) led to the seizure of more than 300 kg of prohibited items and fines totaling Rs45,000.
On May 16, inspections in G-7 Markaz and adjacent markets resulted in the seizure of 150 kilogrammes of single-use plastics and Rs10,000 in fines.
On May 23 alone, over 15 kilograms of banned plastic products were seized in G-6 sector, with six shopkeepers fined and issued warnings. Encouragingly, many businesses were found using eco-friendly alternatives.
Since the implementation of the ban in 2019, Pak-EPA confiscated over 1,550 kilograms of plastic and polythene bags in the fiscal year 2023-2024 alone.
The compliance gap
Enforcement drives produce seizures, but the bigger picture remains challenging.
Despite the longevity of these bans, the federal capital has repeatedly failed to enforce them, with a survey revealing that more than 60% of household garbage in Islamabad comprises polythene bags while 30% comprises plastic bottles.
The survey also revealed that 44% of people were unaware of the 2023 regulations banning single-use plastic.
Pakistan alone produces 3.3 million tons of plastic waste that is equivalent to the height of two K2 mountains. The scale of the national problem dwarfs what periodic enforcement in one city can address.
The Rawalpindi border adds a structural leak. The ban applies in Islamabad but not in adjacent Rawalpindi, which undermines enforcement since the twin cities share commercial supply chains.
What happens to confiscated plastic
Pak-EPA has moved beyond simply confiscating bags. The agency successfully converted around 1,985 kilogrammes of confiscated banned single-use polythene bags into green benches and planters. These confiscated bags were converted into four green benches and four green planters using environment-friendly technology. Pak-EPA will disseminate these green benches and green planters in public offices, universities, colleges, schools, markets, and parks.
In February 2025, Pak-EPA took a further step to provide plastic recycled chairs and tables to Turkey in exchange for raw plastic collected from them.
These circular economy initiatives remain small relative to the waste volume but represent a shift from punitive-only enforcement toward productive recycling.
Why enforcement struggles
Several structural constraints limit the crackdown’s impact.
According to sources in the climate change ministry, Pak-EPA is understaffed, with only one field assistant for the entire city. Pak-EPA has put in a request to be equipped with 18 field officers to enforce the ban.
While inspections are an essential step, they risk becoming futile if not regularly conducted. If carried out periodically, the only goal they accomplish is to punish a handful of people engaged in behavior that is prevalent across the city.
The availability of affordable alternatives remains a practical barrier for smaller vendors and low-income consumers. Paper bags are more expensive, and reusable bags require behavioral change that education campaigns have not yet achieved at scale.
What to watch next
Three milestones will define the next phase of Islamabad’s plastic fight:
- The 2025 straw ban deadline. Drinking straws were scheduled for prohibition by 2025. Whether enforcement actually extends to straws — ubiquitous in restaurants, juice shops, and delivery orders — will test the regulations’ reach.
- The 2028 recycled-content mandate. Beverage containers must include at least 50% recycled plastic by August 2028. This is the most ambitious target in the regulations and requires industrial-level recycling infrastructure that Pakistan does not yet have.
- National expansion. In June 2024, the PM’s coordinator on climate change called on all provincial governments to adopt Punjab province’s plastic ban policy.8 Whether a national ban materializes would change the dynamics entirely by removing the cross-border supply chain problem.
Islamabad’s plastic bag ban is one of Pakistan’s longest-running environmental policies. The regulatory framework is now comprehensive. The enforcement is intensifying. But the gap between law and street-level reality remains the defining challenge — and closing it requires sustained staffing, consistent inspection, and affordable alternatives, not just periodic crackdowns.