Karachi, a city that produces 12,000 tons of it a day, should try to reduce garbage instead of burning it
KARACHI: Waste! What to do with it? It is a worldwide problem. The city of Karachi produces tons of waste every single day and people burn it to reduce it. Thick smoke coming out of a burning pile of garbage is a common sight in Karachi. A city that produces 12,000 tons of it a day should try to reduce garbage instead of burning it. Many people think that through burning, they can reduce garbage, but instead they are creating problems for society. Not everyone likes to spend money on new products only to face that overwhelming feeling of disappointment when it doesn’t live up to your expectation. The solution is to reuse the product or recycle it. Money can be saved and garbage would be reduced. It’s the best way to show creativity through recycling and reusing products again and again.
Nargis Latif comes with the idea of reducing waste not through burning it but through recycling it. She dedicated her life to protecting the environment in Pakistan’s most populated, overcrowded city Karachi. A project Gulbahao deals with the two major problems in the modern world reducing waste and an increasing need for housing. She is making a house from the garbage. Gulbahao works in conjunction with local factories to collect waste that can be recycled or turned into other things. From this, bed and chairs are also made. The dirty waste can also be used to fill up sacks to make bricks that can be used to make affordable shelter and houses. All these methods make use of non-biodegradable waste and reducing damage to the environment.
She proved that instead of burning we could recycle. Her actions are a lesson that change starts from our side. We can try to consume fewer products that produce waste. If we are eating three packets of chips in a week so we should try to eat one packet of chips and slowly move towards a healthier and eco-friendly lifestyle. We all know that consumers are a central part of any organisation. A consumer wants can change the whole company policies or structure. This is important as it will create awareness among companies by pondering over decreasing their demand. This way we can urge companies to also move towards eco-friendly change. A single step taken by an individual can change the whole world!
Rahima Batool
Published in The Express Tribune, September 26th, 2019.
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