MEGA PROJECT BLOG 1
NATSAVER
Save The Nature
Objective
We have taken the initiative of reducing wastage through the reuse process and to reduce the hazardous usage of nylon bags by giving alternative cultural napkins and wooden boxes.
Vision
We are nature saviours.Our goal is to prevent the environment by taking small initiatives in our daily routine which will have massive positive impact on the environment.In the remaining fellowship of one month, our aim is to make maximum awareness to reduce the production of wastage and prevent people from the hazardous effects of plastic materials.
Problem Statement
“According to a survey, Pakistan generates approximately 49.6 million tons of solid waste a year, which has been increasing more than 2.4 percent annually. Like other developing countries, Pakistan lacks waste management infrastructure, creating serious environmental problems. Most municipal waste is either burned, dumped, or buried on vacant lots, threatening the health and welfare of the general population. The Government of Pakistan (GOP) estimates that 87,000 tons of solid waste is generated per week, mostly from major metropolitan areas. Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, generates more than 16,500 tons of municipal waste daily.And there are only few companies for managing this waste having the capacity of picking up only 60% of this waste, rest 40% is unmanaged and creating a severely polluted environment. But the point is, for the 60% which is being managed, different kinds of incinerators have been installed, which cost a lot.Also the hazardous effects are a lot.Tons of waste is being dumped in the ground which in results of leaching process poison the underground water. So to avoid all these things, the first priority should be to reduce this waste.For this purpose we can reuse the things so that less waste is generated, less recyclable units have to be installed , less cost consumed and hence less hazardous environmental changes occur.”
Detailed Analysis Of The Problem
The earth is facing various challenges because of the rapid increase in population and urbanization. In this respect, the management of municipal solid waste (MSW) has been recognized as one of the most important elements for sustainable development in the future. The quality (or composition), quantity, and leachates of MSW vary from one region to another. Such variation is generally dependent upon the combined effects of various parameters, such as lifestyle or living standard, socioeconomic levels, local regulations, recycling, and behavior of habitants.
The population of Pakistan has been increasing annually by 2.4% since 1998 to a record 22.3 million as of 2019, which corresponds to the 6th most populous country in the world. Lahore has been the second largest city in Pakistan, which has grown through a population shift for better sociocultural and economic reasons. Therefore, the MSW facilities have grown drastically in the last few decades.
In developing countries, solid waste management systems suffer from many problems, such as irregular collection service with low coverage, open dumping, improper burning to induce extreme air pollution, loose sorting systems, unpleasant odors, and pest control issues. As such, poor regulation or management of MSW can lead to serious health hazards in the surrounding environment. Studies have reported that uncontrolled landfills are the world’s third biggest source of methane emissions, causing serious environmental degradation. According to the Pakistan Environment Protection Agency (Pak-EPA), Pakistan is ranked 135th for global methane emissions on a per-capita basis, contributing ~0.8% of the total global GHG budget. Moreover, uncontrolled MSW can also increase the breeding of dengue mosquitoes. Indeed, more than 40,000 cases of dengue virus infections were reported in Pakistan in 2010; among them, 17,256 cases (with 279 deaths) were registered in Lahore. According to a recent report made by health officials, the dengue virus has infected more than 10,000 people and led to 20 deaths. The number of cases are increasing rapidly in Lahore and Rawalpindi.
Based on the average generation rate of MSW (i.e., 0.65 kg/capita/day), the daily production of MSW in this city would reach 7150 tons/day. The handling of MSW is a steady and important challenge all across the world. In Pakistan, the Lahore Waste Management Company collects an average of 6500 tons of MSW every day with a collection efficiency more than 90%. Many of the problems with MSW treatment (such as improper segregation, poor collection, and transportation frequency) are primarily the result of insufficient collection equipment in Lahore. Although some fractions of MSW are recycled and reused, the proportion is not well defined due to poor recycling systems. Only 27% (on a weight basis) of the total waste is recycled by unofficial means, due to the lack of any recycling regulation in the country.
Most of the collected MSW is placed in a landfill at the first scientific disposal facility in Pakistan, namely Lakhodair landfill, which occupies 43 ha of land. As this landfill facility does not have enough capacity and complete sanitary engineering, it cannot deal with all of the MSW generated from Lahore. Therefore, semi-equipped landfills and open dumping are mostly used. The MSW landfills are subjected to an array of biological, chemical, and physical processes that lead to gaseous and liquid emissions.
Un managed Waste
Waste that is not properly managed ,especially excreta and other liquid and solid waste from households and the community is a serious health hazard and leads to the spread of infectious diseases. For example, skin and blood infections result from direct contact with waste and from infected wounds; eye and respiratory infections result from exposure to infected dust, especially during landfill operations; different diseases result from the bites of animals feeding on waste; intestinal infections are transmitted by flies feeding on waste; and certain chemicals, if released untreated (e.g. cyanides, mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls), are highly toxic and exposure to them can lead to disease or death.
~based on INTOSAI WGEA guidance material ‘Auditing waste management’ [Ref 6]):
Reference: The data is collected by Environment International
~Lahore Case Study
Link Of The Research Article: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412019322986
For cut down of waste in any environment and for the sustainability of ecosystem, Three R’s term is usually noted i.e Reduce,Reuse,Recycle
Recycling means turning an item into raw materials which can be used again, usually for a completely new product. This is an energy consuming procedure.
Reusing refers to using an object as it is without treatment. This reduces pollution and waste, thus making it a more sustainable process.
Reduction refers to the removal of root of any waste generation
Although recycling has been a staple of sustainable living for decades, it does have some downsides. A large amount of energy is needed to transport, process and reassemble recyclable materials.Recycling is a very expensive process. And in some cases, especially with mobile phones and other electronic devices, it can be difficult.
Requirements for recycling process:
A proper land would acquire for this purpose
proper transportation facility for picking and dropping of the waste
proper sanitation system
hiring of labor for this purpose
So in all developed countries like UK,Austria it is prefer to choose first two options rather to choose recycling process in priority list as it saves a lot of resources i.e money, energy, time, hazardous impacts etc
So our focus is on reusing the things.In this blog we will highlight different aspects of reusing things and how it can help in waste reduction.Our mega project is totally based on reusing the things and giving the alternatives of some of the commonly used hazardous materials.
Why Reuse of things a problem?
Amount of waste material like household items and accessories is increasing day by day. This waste is other than food and garbage. Some of the reasons that why this problem occur and increasing day by day are discussed here:
- People prefer convenience. They prefer to buy a new item rather than searching for a used one and show some efforts to the initiative of Reuse.
- People have adopted throw away culture and prefer to buy new one.
- This culture is mainly observed in financially strong families because they have enough money to buy it again or may be in good quality.
- Until governments take some serious steps and encourage people to reuse items. This problem demands actions, not only awareness campaigns. Until you make sure of the availability of eco-friendly items in the market which replace hazards one like plastic bags, packaging items and others, this issue will remain the same. My world bank’s report indicates that waste is increasing and we are not taking serious steps. Link of the article is given below.
https://datatopics.worldbank.org/what-a-waste/trends_in_solid_waste_management.html
Possible causes
Some of main causes are
- People think it will not bring a huge change in society. They think it’s all about being over-efficient.
- Most people are not well informed but misinformed about the increasing waste problem in the world and its impacts on the earth. Some people assume that there are infinite natural resources that come from the earth and therefore there is no need to reuse or recycle.
- They think it is not convenient to reuse things. They need special instruments to make it possible. They don’t understand that not buying new plastic boxes for cookies is also considered as recycling or reuse.
- There is a lack of awareness about it. In markets new items with better styles and technology are being introduced to attract people despite the fact they are damaging our environment. We know plastic items are causing cancer and other hazard diseases but most of our item availability is in plastic. We as a world never try to take steps. Eco-friendly items are costly so people prefer cheaper one new.
- In our societies there are no proper places where recycling or reusing is carried out. We just organize some conferences on Earth day and then again start harming it. Even we noticed in those conferences we use a lot of plastic water bottles then use other ways to serve water.
- People would like to reuse big and expensive items but for cheaper one they considered it useless. They argue when they can afford a new item at approximately the same price as why they prefer used items.
- There is no clear idea and availability that which items can be or should actually be reused.
- We are ready to overcome Mars but never ever try to save our own planet’s environment by actual means. We ourselves introduce and promote items with hazard particles.
- According to a survey by Forbes 74% of people vote for the reusing process but only 35% actually do. There is a lack of Amal. It is well said that before you recycle, choose to reuse.
Reference:
https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/before-you-recycle-choose-to-reuse
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/288700460_The_Environmental_Impacts_of_Reuse_A_Review
Interaction With People:
- I prefer focus groups and try to take interviews of my friends, one from a financially strong background and one from a mediocre one to understand that as a society we stand on this topic.
- I learned that we are far away because of less awareness and less courage to take action. We believe as a nation that only crowds can bring changes not me or you. I also learned that at the national level we should promote reusing. Wearing your bag and dress again is also the tiniest way to reuse items instead of being cool so that we never repeat our accessories.
OUR PROJECT (WHAT WE ARE PLANNING TO DO FOR THIS)
Our mega project is all about REUSE the things. We can manage waste through three R (REMOVE/REDUCE , REUSE , RECYCLE) but Pakistan does not have formal recycling facilities, an informal recycling industry continues to thrive and It is shown that 21.2% of all recyclable waste in Lahore is recycled. Reusing is better than recycling because it saves the energy that comes with having to dismantle and re-manufacture products. It also significantly reduces waste and pollution because it reduces the need for raw materials, saving both forests and water supplies. That’s why we have selected REUSING.
For reusing things we are going to create a website where people can sell used things like laundry, plant buckets, books, pens, art pieces to promote reusing and introduce the things for carrying the luggage which can be used again and again and have no serious effect on human health.
Our first focus would be on the plastic materials as they have high negative impacts on health.So to reduce the production of plastic, we first launch the category of plastic kitchenware on our website so that people can exchange their goods with each other to fulfill their needs so that to stop the more production of plastic materials.
We would introduce alternatives of these plastic materials as well.
For this we will create a website where people can sell and buy their used goods.We would Conduct seminars to make people aware that they should buy old goods and can use the things again and again. We have created pages on facebook and Instagram and soon will publish articles on them, Upload streamed videos by specialists on our pages. We also have to conduct a google form survey to get the view point from different people about reusing the things.
How People Affected Using Plastic Materials
How does plastic and other hazardous waste affect people’s lives ?
Use of Plastic is increasing day by day in modern life. But the production and disposal of plastic generates greenhouse gasses and hazardous waste. Plastic and the chemicals it emits are building up on land and in oceans, lakes, rivers, ice, and air, and the resulting damage to human and ecological health is currently poorly understood. Most plastic is not recyclable and the vast majority does not biodegrade.
How big is the plastic problem?
Researchers estimate that nearly 7,000 million tons of virgin(raw form) plastic have been manufactured around the world as of 2015. Of that, 9 percent may have been recycled, 12 percent has been incinerated, and the rest is in landfills, still in use, or in our environment. Globally, about one fourth of plastic waste is never collected. In less wealthy countries, waste plastic is sometimes burned in the open, releasing toxic chemicals into the air.
What is plastic made of?
The main ingredients in plastic come from oil and natural gas processing.Manufacturers also mix in additives to give specific products their desired qualities. These chemicals, such as colorants, plasticizers, flame-retardants, stabilizers, fillers, reinforcing fibers, and biocides sometimes contain hazardous substances, including lead, arsenic, and cadmium compounds, as well as BPA.
Main problem of plastic products
Most plastic is not recyclable and the vast majority does not biodegrade. Further, plastic products often break down into very small fragments called microplastics that can pollute ecosystems and harm organisms.It creates hazardous effects in the environment and ultimately causes cancerous disease in humans.
Effects Of This Problem On Environment:
What are the effects of dumping ground?
Illegal Dumping Damages the Environment. Land, water, soil and air pollution in the neighborhood are primarily caused by illegal dumping. The chemicals and non-biodegradable materials in the waste affect the physical environment and the waterways by contaminating groundwater and soil.
Causes of Illegal Dumping
● High Level of Overall Waste Production
Studies indicate that a higher level of overall waste production is distinctly correlated with increased rates of illegal dumping of waste and the increasing number of illegal dumping spots.The increase in overall waste production is in tandem with riches, rapid change of preferences, and the ever-growing population throughout the world. Additionally, people are becoming more and more consumer-oriented than in the past.
● Population Growth
The growth in the worldwide population is one cause for illegal garbage dumping. Since the overall level of waste production is positively correlated with the population on earth, an increase in population automatically implies an increase in the amount of overall waste.
● Avoidance of Disposal Fees at Waste Management Sites
Cases of residents in various parts of the world disposing of waste themselves are on the rise. This habit is associated with the avoidance of paying disposal fees at waste management sites. The people who engage in such acts are of the opinion that the prevailing waste collection fees are exorbitant.
● Some People Simply Don’t Understand the Importance of Waste Recycling
Most people understand and are very much aware of the repercussions of illegal dumping. Regardless, some individuals simply don’t see the need for recycling waste or following the proper waste disposal channel and therefore go to highly unusual lengths to dispose of waste illegally.
Some people are simply too lazy to bring their trash to official dumping sites. A fraction of our society also does not care about the illegal dumping problem and its consequences. They do so by completely avoiding prosecution and detection, which means that they do know their act is unlawful.
Water issues due to plastic
Plastic releases hazardous chemicals into the soil, which can then seep into groundwater or other nearby water sources, harming both the ecology and the environment.
Groundwater contamination can lead to poor drinking water quality, a loss of water supply, damaged surface water systems, expensive restoration expenses, high prices for alternative water supplies, and/or significant health issues. Plastics leak into the water, contaminating it with harmful substances and causing harm to human and animal health as a result.
Air pollution
Burning plastic in the open air releases hazardous chemicals that contaminate the environment. Filthy air has an adverse effect on human and animal health and can induce respiratory problems. Burning plastic waste is harmful to one’s health since it produces black carbon in the smoke. Other particulate matter is generated when black carbon is discharged, which can have a severe impact on health by causing respiratory problems, heart disease, and brain cancers.
Air pollution in Pakistan is caused by nonpoint sources such as solid waste burning and sugarcane plantations. Every day, around 54,000 tonnes of solid waste are produced, with the bulk being placed in low-lying areas or burned. When solid trash is burned at a low temperature, toxic and carcinogenic gasses such as carbon monoxide (CO), particulates (PM), and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are created, causing air pollution.
Chemical interactions in aesthetic plastics are powerful and long-lasting. Depending on the material, plastic deterioration might take anywhere from 500 to 600 years. Every single item of plastic that has ever been created and disposed of in landfills or the environment still exists, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). When different types of plastics are burned, they produce particles of differing sizes. These scattered particles can cause a range of problems in the lungs and can even get into the circulation system. Recycling machines produce volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which cause nasal congestion, as well as mucocutaneous and respiratory problems.
Food loss and waste must be reduced for greater food security and environmental sustainability
29 September 2020 — At the global event marking today the first International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and their partners urged everyone to do more to reduce food loss and waste or risk an even greater drop in food security and natural resources.
Some 690 million people today are hungry and three billion cannot afford a healthy diet. Hunger has been on the rise for the past five years, and the COVID-19 pandemic is threatening the food and nutrition security of up to an additional 132 million of people. On top of that, we are faced with an ecosystem decline and the consequences of climate change.
Yet, food continues to be lost and wasted. This year we have witnessed an increase in food loss and waste as a result of movement and transport restrictions due to the pandemic.
References:
https://www.conserve-energy-future.com/causes-effects-solutions-illegal-dumping.php
WORK ALREADY BEING DONE ON IT
A Lot of work has been done in developed countries regarding the reuse of things and reduction of plastic materials.Here are the list of some companies who are working on this.
Companies
- Abeego
Abeego is a reusable food wrap made by beeswax. It helps to improve the life of food and extend it to use after a couple of hours.
It used to wrap the food. As shown in figure.
It is washable and eco friendly.
These wraps can last for years if we take care of them properly.
Main aims of Abeego:
- Plastic free
- All natural and in its natural state
- Edible
- Natural preservative
- It is FDA approved for food contact
- Revolution Bags:
It also works for reducing waste. It helps the companies and firms to work together to make the environment different by removing plastic waste.
Revolution Bags brings the experts, companies and insights to revolutionary, sustainable solutions of the plastic bags to make the environment sustainable and useful for the environment.
- Terra Cycle
The TerraCycle is a global foundation that was founded to fight the ocean plastic at source. They work with local communities to fight this issue. They works to collect, prevent and recycle the waste near oceans and rivers
It is a private company based in the United States recycling business. Its headquarter is in New Jersey. It was a volunteer base platform at starting but now has become one of the best recycling companies.
It works Nationally in the US and also Internationally in the world’s major countries.
It collects the non-recyclable waste to use for making useful products.
https://www.terracycle.com/en-US/
- Truman
It’s an online retailers company that aims to tackle the problem of single used plastic cleaning supplies in our environment.
This company ships the customer reusable bottles of spray and for the tablets used for floor, glass, kitchen and bathroom.
Containers filled with water and dropped in tablets and started to clean.
These tiny tablets have significantly removed the plastic from America.
It can help to reduce 300M of pounds of plastic
- Stasher
It’s a US company that has bags made up of food grade silicone.
It can be used thousands of times and can survive this period.
It’s durable and plastic free.
This is freezer safe, dishwasher and microwave safe. It doesn’t contain Latex and has harmful effects on the body.
Some Of The Youtube Videos Links:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqMnEtOQI168gv3iBLJtf3g/videos
GLIMPSES OF OUR PROJECT:
Objective and Motive:
Our main objective is to reusing the things to reduce the overall percentage of wastes in Pakistan and save nature and environment from harmful effects of wastes. and to introduce the convenient things that can be reused.
Our Ideas:
We have conducted a survey about reusing things and the use of plastic materials and their environmental impacts so that we can get the point of view of people and will conduct more surveys to get clear of our initiatives.
Promote the people to reuse the things through webinars and if they do not want to reuse the things then they will give them to those who cannot buy the new one and for selling and buying we create a website and Plate form.
Conduct awareness seminars to make people aware of how their small step can make a huge positive impact on the environment.
As a first step during our fellowship, we will introduce Napkins in different attractive designs and colors and wooden boxes as an alternative to nylon bags.
For this purpose we are going to make a website where all these things can happen.
Our plan is to make the things attractive:
Some of the glimpses are:
What We Have Done Yet:
- We have taken the feedback from people through environmental surveys to judge their mindsets whether it will be feasible to reduce the use of plastics, in the first step especially whether they would prefer to use Napkins or Wooden Boxes, If they go to shop to buy Naan.
And the feedback was amazing.
- We have interacted with some professionals who have vast knowledge of this field and after making our websites will upload their awareness based videos.
- We have created our facebook and Instagram pages.
Fb Page Link:https://www.facebook.com/NatSaver-102865215761586/
Instagram Link:https://www.instagram.com/invites/contact/?i=xig1dxutqsa&utm_content=of6eniv
- We have named our organization “NATSAVER”, As Nature Savers.
- To make a website we have interacted with software engineers and planned what we should do.
- We also interacted with some of the crafters to know about the prices of wooden boxes.One of our members Waqar belongs to Raheem Yar Khan so he did this task as it’s a part of culture in Raheem Yar Khan.
Some of the glimpses are:
What We Are Going To Do Next?
Ø Website
Ø Online bazar for selling and getting used goods
Ø Placing the wooden fabric’s stuff for orders
Ø Placing the napkins in different designs for orders
Ø Uploading awareness videos and cinematics by environmentalists or experts regarding our campaign
Publish some awareness base blogs
Planning to interact with shopkeepers of Landa Bazar
Ø Advertisement
Our Targeted Audience:
Targeted audience in this campaign is a diverse group of people that are then segmented into smaller units like students, women/men, office workers and manufacturers.
Like we will encourage people from every domain to reuse items by not only creating awareness but by making sure the availability of useful and eco friendly items which can be reused. As a developing country, we will target people with low budgets to meet their needs in a cheaper and beneficial way. For a student we will focus on reusing books to save paper consumption, clothes availability and other accessories. Similarly for households we are trying to make sure reusable and less hazardous materials like items which replace plastic and nylon from our lives.
Task Division:
We have completed this task in a group.All the members have participated in these activities.There were some members who haven’t participated fully, We are trying to sort out all the issues and to be a better team to work with.
Waqar: Wooden Boxes and Napkins Task
Sana: Fb and Insta Pages Tasks
Danish: Website
Maleeha: For videos, find professionals
Aneela: Co Leader — Engaging team, Assigning Tasks
Zain: Survey Task
Afnan: Leader: Look after all the activities
When the website will established, tasks will be divided again according to the skills.
Provoking Challenges:
- It is difficult to change people mind about reusing items because they think it is not hygienic or will affect their status quo
- This initiative is also very difficult for us as we have never done anything like this ever before and we will face a lot of difficulties due to (conflicted ideas) and because every person is going out of their comfort zone to take part in this initiative.
- We will also face difficulty while promoting our online bazaar as people do not trust online platforma in pakistan.
- We will also face difficulties to engage people in this initiative and make them listen and understand how this will help us in saving our society.
- We also faced problems in our own group as I see there is lack of passion and energy.Some members are doing really great and some are just moderate.We are trying our best to resolve all these issues because unless we don’t become a team we will not be able to do anything good.
~Circle 1-Batch 238
Thanks for your time!