A Common Enemy of Arch-Rivals: Can Pakistan & India be Nemesis of Environmental Pollution?

 Sanam Junejo

Islamabad: It is no secret that Pakistan and India have been arch rivals since gaining their independence in 1947. They have fought three major wars, engaged in several armed skirmishes, and been involved in an effort to harm one another’s reputation abroad.

However, the global environmental imperative has brought consequential effects on both countries and their citizens, and has demanded that the two arch-rivals must engage in a collaborative effort to combat the threat of environmental pollution. “India and Pakistan are facing a huge menace of plastic waste and the subsequent pollution caused by it, thus posing a huge risk to public health, wildlife and environment,” Experts said, suggesting urgent joint efforts to tackle it.

They suggested setting up a common task force, raising awareness among the masses, establishing environment-friendly standards for plastic-producing industries, taking tough penal measures to check littering of plastics and such inferior quality products, and finding the best global processes to safely dispose of the millions of tonnes of plastic waste generated in both nations annually.Some have even opined that taxing plastic production is a probable solution to tackle the growing plastic waste crisis. While India has set a global example by banning the manufacturing, sale, and use of 19 single-use plastic items like earbuds, plastic sticks for balloons, plates, cups, and straws from July 1, 2022; the demand for the same imposition is gaining momentum in the neighbouring country, the experts said.

“Plastic pollution has emerged as the biggest challenge for mankind. It poses grave health hazards and destroys the environment beyond repair. The menace of plastic pollution is very lethal,” said Ajay Dubey, a prominent green activist in India.

“India and Pakistan need to take immediate steps to regulate authorised and unauthorised production of plastics and its usage. There is an urgent need to make people aware ofthe serious impact of plastic pollution, which is causing irreparable damage to the environment,” said Ajay, who has been raising his voice against different environment-related issues. He added that the effects of plastic pollution are expanding their tentacles beyond urban areas to rural regions of both nations.

Delhi’s Growing Problem

“Plastic pollution is known for causing a lot of problems in urban areas. It chokes sewage and drainage pipes, and causes diseases in people and animals too. Now plastic pollution is fast spreading in rural areas as well,” said Ajay, who won a historic battle on regulating tiger tourism in the country from India’s Supreme Court. Besides the plastic pollution, waste management has emerged as the biggest challenge for the civil authorities in many cities in India and Pakistan, experts and individuals have said. For instance, people living near landfill sites in India’s capital city of Delhi say the situation, due to growing waste, especially plastic litter, is worsening with every passing day.

“I have been living here for the past many years. The situation is worsening day by day. The mound of garbage, formed from the waste collected from Delhi, is increasing. It is horrifying to live in places like such. The administration must find a viable solution to deal with the waste,” said Abhinav, who lives near the Ghazipur landfill site in Delhi.  Many residents living close to the “mountain of garbage sites” are thinking of moving to other places as well.“There is a continuous foul smell in the area. At times, there is fire in the dump waste. This mountain of waste is troublesome. I am facing breathing issues and other health problems because of it. I now plan to move to another safe locality,” said an apparently worried resident, Chetan. Commissioned in 1984, the Ghazipur landfill is the biggest garbage dump in Delhi and it holds over 140,000 metrictonnes of waste. The other two sites are the Bhalswa and Okhla landfills, which started in 1994.

In April 2022, the National Green Tribunal, which adjudicates environment-related matters, expressed serious concern over fire incidents at the Ghazipur landfill site in Delhi. It noted that the dump sites in Delhi and other cities are like “time bombs” because they constantly generate explosive gases like methane; which may escape through vertical and lateral routes,posing a constant threat of explosion. The Ghazipur landfill site is spread across 70 acres. Plastic has become one of the most pressing environmental issues that we are facing today.

“According to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) report (2019-20), India is generating 3.5 million metri tonnes of plastic waste annually,” Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadavstated in April this year. The per capita plastic waste generation has almost doubled over the last five years. “Plastic pollution adversely affects our ecosystems and is also linked to air pollution, ”Minister Yadav said.

Traditional Bags: A Good Alternative

Around 34.7 lakh metric tonnes per annum (TPA) of plastic wastes was generated by India during 2019-20, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister of State Ashwini Kumar Choubey told the LokSabha (lower House of the Parliament) in August this year.Various manufacturing industries across the globe produce 400 million metrictonnes of plastic waste per year, with the packaging industry being the largest contributor, the CPCB report claims. Last month, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also asked people to use non-plastic bags. “We have seen that polythene bags are also being used a lot for packing and packaging during festivals. The harmful litter of polythene on the festivals observing cleanliness is also against the spirit of our festivals.

“Therefore, we should use only locally made non-plastic bags. The trend of jute, cotton, banana,fibre, and many other such traditional bags is on the rise once again. It is our duty to promote them on the occasion of festivals, and take care of our health and environment along with cleanliness,” Modi had said in his monthly radio broadcast (titled ‘Mann Ki Baat’) on September 25.

Pakistan’s Plastic Pollution

During his radio broadcast, Modi further said that the situation due to plastic pollution is equally alarming in neighbouring Pakistan, where experts too have suggested replacing plastic products with environment-friendly biodegradable items.

“There are so many impacts of plastic pollution. There are 12 big cities in Pakistan, in which 60-70 percent of the population lives. Plastic chokes sewage lines because it doesn’t decay. If sewage lines get damaged, they pollute the fresh water or jam the drainage system which in turn results in health hazards. There is a direct health impact of plastic pollution in urban areas,” said British High Commission Islamabad Climate Change Policy Manager Nadeem Ahmad.

Ahmed mentioned that the rivers are affected by plastic pollution in rural areas. “Plastic pollution also disturbs crop production. Plastic pollution is like air pollution. Immediately, one may not realise its effect but in the long run, its harmful health hazards are quite visible,” Ahmad explained.  He said there has to be a nation-wide regulation to check it.

“People should also take action to supplement government efforts in checking plastic pollution. We need to educate people, and at the same time we need to check its production. If demand is lower (from people’s side), then naturally its production would be lower,” Nadeem Ahmad opined.International Rescue Committee Country Director for Pakistan Shabnam Balochsaid plastic pollution is affecting everyone. Baloch said, “Most nations in the world have banned plastic. There was a discourse on banning it in Pakistan as well. Overall waste, especially plastic waste, has a very bad effect on the environment, on individual’s health and also on the infrastructure of the cities”.

An Islamabad-based NGO, Strengthening Participatory Organization (SPO) Climate Change Expert Naseer Memon cited a lack of regulation as the primary reason to check the growing menace of plastic pollution. “The problem is regulation. There was an announcement in Islamabad about two years ago that there would not be plastic bags but ones made of cloth. But at present, you find plastic bags easily everywhere,” Memon said.

He said it is not rocket science that plastic products cannot be checked. “There are environmentally-friendly products, which are as good as plastic ones, available too. The impact of plastic pollution is very severe. We see these effects in our day-to-day lives. But we do not take them seriously.”

Memon said bags made of paper have been used for years in this country. “Nobody had any problem. All these plastics came afterwards –after people started using paper bags and other such items). Many nations have replaced plastic bags. If they can do it, we can also do it,” he added.

WWF Managing Plastic Pollution in Pakistan

According to World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Pakistan, which is one of the largest conservation organisations in Pakistan and is working proactively against climate change and environmental degradation in the country, 250 million tonnes of garbage are generated in Pakistan each year, primarily consisting of plastic bags, pet bottles and food scraps.

“One major aspect of protecting the nation’s environment is curbing pollution, especially of non-biodegradable materials like plastic,” the WWF Pakistan report. As many as 65 percent of the waste that ends up on beaches along Pakistan’s coast includes water bottles, caps, plastic bags, and packaging, it says. Also, an estimated 8 million tonnes of plastic waste enter the oceans every year. By 2050, it is expected that there will be more plastic in the oceans than fish, the report says, depicting the dreaded reality of plastic pollution.

Plastics pose a threat to nature by being non-biodegradable and toxic. A simple plastic bag can take up to 500 years to decompose while a plastic bottle can take around 300 years. Unfortunately, plastics account for 65 percent of the total waste in Pakistan; 55billion plastic bags are being used in the country with an expected annual increase of 15 percent in their usage, WWF report mentioned.

The WWF Pakistan has advocated for immediate and effective action to reduce plastic consumption in order to rescue our nation and the environment. WWF has been trying to tackle the issue of plastic pollution through various interventions. One of the major focuses of the WWF is to create nationwide awareness through advocacy campaigns, seminars and beach cleaning activitieIt has also been encouraging innovative ideas for countering plastics pollution and has funded start ups that are focusing on recycling.  According tothe plastemart.com, which describes itself as the world’s leading B2B marketplace, the plastics industry in Pakistan is one of the oldest in the country and its existence can be traced back to the year 1947. “The plastics industry in Pakistan has taken great strides in its quest for success. Today, plastics-made products constitutes the fourth largest item of imports and this sector alone contributes significantly to the national exchequer in different ways,” it says.

The industry is growing at an average annual rate of 15 percent. In the process of its development, it has surpassed all other industrial sectors. “The per capita consumption in the country has also shown an upward trend during the last 15 years [except for post 9/11 events and the standoff with India]. “Despite domestic plastic consumption stands at 2.7 kg –well below the international average – Pakistan is South East Asia’s second-largest domestic market after India,” Pakistan Plastics Manufacturers Association Secretary Fayyaz A Chaudhry stated.

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