Waste not: Think.Eat.Save to protect the environment

Awareness, better preservation methods key to cutting waste.

LAHORE:

Pakistan is racing towards a possible water crisis. “We need to stop wasting water and food if we want to avert it,” said environment activists at an event organised at the Punjabi Complex to mark the World Environment Day on Wednesday. 

The theme chosen by the United Nations Environment Programme to mark the day was “Think.Eat.Save”.

Lawyer Rafay Alam said, “When we waste food we also waste the water used to produce it.” Pakistan can only store enough water in its dams to last it 20 days, he said. Food wastage in low income countries can be prevented by creating awareness about the hazards of high consumption and by improving methods of food preservation. Alam said the world population would increase from 9 billion to 12 billion by 2030, but the water reserves will not increase.

Dr AR Saleemi, a member of the environment tribunal, said, “It is important to think and plan before buying food. We often purchase food in large quantities, a lot of which goes to waste.” One of the ways to improve consumption patterns in the society is simply “To think before you eat,” he said.

Students from Lahore College for Women University screened a 20-minute documentary prepared in view of the event. It showed vegetables and fruits rotting in the fruit markets in Lahore. It also highlighted the wasteful habits of students who wasted cafeteria food.

Environment Protection Department Secretary Sher Alam Mehsud praised the students for highlighting the issues and said, “Such documentaries should be filmed on a regular basis. The Environment Protection Department will sponsor them.” He said the UN’s theme was rooted in Islamic teachings of eating in moderation.

Environment Protection Authority Director General Farooq Hameed Sheikh said that the authority had launched a campaign to address the issue of food wastage.

Nusrat Tufail Gill, representing the Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC), said around 1.3 billion tonnes of food was wasted in the world every year, while one in every seven people around the world went to sleep hungry. He said that food wastage depleted the world’s natural resources.

The United Nations Conference on Human Environment marked June 5 as The World Environment Day in 1972, with the objective to promote awareness and political action regarding environmental issues.

Taking action

The LWMC marked the World Environment Day by organising a cleanliness and awareness campaign at the Lahore Fort.

LWMC Chairman Ahmad Rafay Alam led an awareness walk from the fort’s gate to Deewan-i-Aam then to Masti Gate.

LWMC General Managers Khalid Majeed and Shujaaul Hassan and Managers Memoonsa Arslan and Asif Iqbal also participated. Several students of the Lahore College for Women University, University of Engineering and Technology, Government College University, Punjab University joined the walk. The participants carried banners and placards with educational and inspirational messages. The campaign aimed to create awareness among people visiting the fort.The LWMC deployed more than 700 workers in collaboration with Albayrak and Ozpak to collect and transport 500 tonnes of waste from the fort and surrounding areas in a 10-hour cleanup operation. Badshahi Masjid and the Gurudwara were scrubbed clean using machines. Four camps were set up at the fort to facilitate people and address their complaints and suggestions regarding cleanliness. The clean-up operation began at 7am and continued till 2 in afternoon. Several large heaps of garbage were collected from the eastern side of the fort, adjacent to Fort Road. “This area has been problematic for a long time. We are grateful to the LWMC for a thorough clean-up,” Lahore Fort Director Saleemul Haq said.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 6^th, 2013.