Need to make waste management part of curriculum

Segregation of waste, its collection and recycling should be made a part of schools' curriculum, starting at the kindergarten level to higher levels, educating children both of the needs and how to segregate waste according to its type. School children will convey this to their families and the practice will become more widespread. About 80% of our daily waste is recyclable, and the new trend of sustainable manufacturing means converting recyclable plastics into something of greater use, which is becoming visible in Pakistan as well, said Dr Mehar Nigar in an exclusive interview to Business Recorder.

Dr Nigar has recently started a community outreach effort 'Saaf mohalla, saaf Pakistan' which aims to encourage children living in impoverished communities to bring recyclables to school. She appreciated the Government's initiative to curb plastic waste and also of the private sector's efforts in converting the waste into useful products. 'I would say that we are going through an environmental crisis but as said, there lies an opportunity in every adversity. Therefore, we can also make use of this opportunity to find a region-specific solution to this problem which will be a win-win situation. The planet will be a winner with lesser pollution, there will be growth in job opportunities when the focus will be on sustainable manufacturing,' she added.

UNEP and Ellen MacArthur, who have become signatories to the circular plastic economy in 290 countries, say that plastic waste should be considered as a resource just like metals and ceramics. Plastics are portrayed negatively in the media as they stay in the environment for hundreds of years but so do ceramics and metals. However, the latter two materials are never seen as part of waste as they hold certain cash value attached to them and are recovered from the dumps. Every man-made material has an environmental impact but people don't have the same understanding for plastics, and that's where polymer science comes in, to bring clarity to this issue and its solutions.

Through different chemical processes and industrial polymerization, the properties of PET can be enhanced to be used for different solutions. And through reverse polymerization the PET can be converted back into monomers from which it was derived, which opens up endless opportunities for the PET users. However, a thorough washing line in such units is required for decontamination if the plastics are to be reused for food-grade solutions, Dr Nigar claimed.

Appreciating the ongoing research being conducted by Coca-Cola and WWF Pakistan on PET plastics segregation, collection and recycling, she urged other stakeholders to plan similar research projects focused on PET as well, so the problem of plastic waste can be well understood and tackled appropriately, she added.

In Pakistan, PET is down-cycled and people use it for carrying all sorts of solvents, liquids or chemicals like pesticides. Tourism industry depends on it, as disposable plastic material offers more convenience while being on the go. Recycling is a multi-tier industry. PET is also recycled for insulation, roads, bridges etc. PET is also the perfect use for transporting water and drinks to disaster-struck areas in case of natural calamities.

Despite such supportive applications, the mere absence of formal waste segregation facilities in Pakistan at domestic source level is creating a misperception about this material as being something that should be abandoned or banned.

While in the developed countries, as part of bag-less curbside collection, there are different wheelie bins for different types of wastes, which help proper segregation and collection at domestic source level, processed later for recycling and re-use. Government plays an important role in establishing such systems at the municipality level, so a baseline is established which can be further enhanced and made efficient with private sector partnerships and collaborations.

Government should facilitate collection through segregation; otherwise the recyclables get contaminated. To start with, the wastes can be segregated on the basis of dry-wet wastes at the public level. Children should also be educated from early years about sorting waste, so this can be embedded as a social habit in our communities.

Another reason why the issue of plastic waste segregation and collection has not been introduced properly in Pakistan is that there are no incentives for individual consumers. A possible solution could be to attach a cash value with plastic waste collection e.g. in developed countries like USA there is a Cash Value Return (CVR) system in place, where the empty bottles and cans can be redeemed against certain cash value at the point of purchase.

Since carbon footprint attached to glass production is very high, so it isn't an environment friendly alternative to PET, and there is no point in going back to it. This was the main realisation which led to many international companies in the past switching from glass to recyclable plastics for product packaging. Numerous benefits were attached to this switch like saving on the losses caused by breakage of glass, delivery fuel consumption and carbon emissions etc. Similarly, metals weren't recognized as a suitable alternative as well as it corrodes over time, posing health and environmental risks, Dr Nigar concluded.