The Plastic Waste and Plastic Pollution Crisis of Pakistan in 2021

Tides have been turning in Pakistan as plastic pollution is finally forming a wave around our country.

Plastic pollution has always been a topic which has carried great weight and recently has been drawing much attention to itself due to the heavy increase in plastic being processed and used widely throughout the globe, this has ruptured the earth’s climate resulting in what we have dubbed climate change.

According to UNDP, in Pakistan, the amount of plastic wate which has been used a year is over 3.3 million tonnes of plastic, which have either been salvaged from the streets or from dustbins.

Similarly, according to a research paper by Yasir Qayyum Gill (of University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore), Pakistan is now producing 50,438 tonnes of Municipal Solid Waste every day, out of which 67% is organic, 5% is paper and about 18% is plastic, amounting to 6.41 million tonnes of plastic waste annually.

Pakistan Plastic Bags (Source NPR)

Due to Pakistan dealing with such a severe increase in plastic pollution we will need something which is strong enough to counteract this threat.

With high poverty rate, nearly 24.3 percent of Pakistan’s its population are on the poverty line and due to this being a very common factor of Pakistan, the plastic pollution has increased.

However why is this the case, if you were to ever take a deeper inspection in this you would notice that plastic is something which sells well in the market and because of this the usage of single use plastic has become more frequent when it comes to selling them to get money for food or selling toys which could break in an instant due to people who have sadly been plunged into poverty selling plastic based products is something which has become rather common especially for those who are suffering from poverty.

There have been some effective suggestions as to how we could help be rid of plastic pollution and one which could have a positive impact is the implementing it into our education system.

Pakistan Plastice Waste (Source WEFF)

Another word for this would be segregation as this could be a benefit to the next generation, teaching the younger generations about plastic pollutions and how to prevent could be the next step in helping stop plastic from polluting the world and Pakistan, a more direct solution is restricting the usage of all single use plastic’s such as plastic bags, straws, cups, utensils, and so on.

Many questions have been asked as to why should Pakistan invest in recycling?

In Europe and US, reusing plastic has been made unto a mainstream service as now it is currently being used for manufacturing products which look new, this proves that plastic can be re-used and this crisis can be averted.

If we continue to consistently gather and re use our discarded plastic, implementing reusable bags and cups in coffee shops, supermarkets, etc, we will also help reduce plastic pollution, in shorter words recycling is something worth investing in as it will help benefit the world and Pakistan.