THIS is apropos of your editorial ‘Hazardous waste’ (March 31). It is important to control the import of such materials as they can pollute the environment and cause health hazards.

Relevant government agencies need to be vigilant in this regard, as well as about the local industry, especially those companies producing PVC resin in Karachi, because vinyl chloride gas is a known human carcinogen attached to neurological disorders.

The population and the industry located around the PVC plant in Karachi are exposed to grave environmental threat due to possible vinyl chloride emissions in the air.

If safety measures are not in place, the possibility of VC gas explosion can be a disaster on the pattern of Formosa plastics explosion in the US in 2004, where many people died.

As China has recently become the hub of plastics recycling and imports $4 billion’s worth of plastics waste from all over the world, we can learn much from it as to how the import rules are made as well as their compliance methods.

If the local industry is encouraged, Pakistan can also become an important centre of recycling industry like India and China.

A stray incident of violation as reported in Dawn should not be allowed to be exploited against the recycling industry.

However, culprits should be produced before competent authorities and the case be sent to higher courts.

SHARIQ VOHRA Karachi