Caritas Pakistan yesterday distributed cloth bags in Karachi as part of an ongoing environmental campaign against the use of harmful plastic carrier-bags. The Church’s social arm handed white eco-friendly bags to more than 100 participants of a World Environment Day event yesterday at the Holy Family Hospital Auditorium. Each bag carries messages promoting green issues and warnings about the harmful effects plastic bags have on the environment. The Catholic Charity says it aims to distribute 2,000 bags among Church-run institutions and schools in the port city. “As many as 80,000 polythene bags are given out every five minutes in Pakistan; a single department store uses an average of 4,000 in a week. The problem is these bags are used once then go straight into landfills or are thrown into the street or in the sea,” said Dominic Gill, executive secretary of Caritas Pakistan Karachi. “These bags are now littering our beaches. Not only are they ruining their beauty, they are killing marine life,” he said. He said the deaths of hundreds of fish, turtles and other animals found in Keenjhar Lake, Karachi’s main freshwater source, a few months ago were partly caused by discarded plastic bags. Related reports Church lends hand for clean water Caritas launches waste recycling system