KARACHI - Pollution in Pakistan has become a major environmental and economic concern, mainly due to poor pollution management, lack of awareness among public and week enforcement of environmental policies.
In Pakistan pollution is also spreading due to rapid industrial growth. The burning of materials made of plastic cause pollution. Pollution can build up in water sources and make it difficult for marine life. This was revealed in a research report conducted on Plastic Pollution, and presented by the students of Mohammad Ali Jinnah University, (MAJU) Karachi at an Economic Festival held at university’s campus.
The students who worked on this report, under the supervision of their teacher Madam Saba, included Nelson Gill, Shahroz Haideri, Hafiz M Ammad Khan and Muhammad Jan. For controlling plastic pollution in the country, MAJU students recommended to the government to establish a hydro cracking plank; to make strict laws for controlling pollution, to ban plastic bags in the country and to promote use of paper bags.
The report says that the country is basically facing pollution due to household garbage and industrial waste. In Pakistan around 250 million tonnes of garbage consists of product packaging, grass clippings, furniture, clothing, bottles, food scrap, newspapers, appliances, paints, batteries and plastic bags.
That’s about 1.95 kg of waste per person per day.
Describing the effects of plastic pollution, the report says that it spreads environmental degradation and upsets the existing ecosystem. According to the report, plastic pollution causes an estimated damage of 13 billion dollars to marine ecosystem annually, and damage to tourism, fishing and shipping industries of around $1.3 billion.
Elaborating further on the effects of plastic pollution worldwide, the report says that every year 5 to 13 million more tonnes of plastic end up in the oceans and a whopping 80 percent of that waste pour in from 20 countries.
According to the report, China is the biggest offender, discarding nearly 30 percent of the world’s ocean-bound plastic.According to an analysis of plastic trash in the sea, 8 billions of trash or grocery bags, filled with plastic trash, are dumped into the world’s water. Plastic waste is generated by people from 192 countries, living within 30 miles of the coast. The researchers have found that if nothing changes, as many as 155 million tonnes (10 bags) of trash for every mile on a coastline would be tossed out and find its way into the oceans in 2025. According to the report most polluting countries are Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Thailand, China and USA.