If you do not think sustainably you are not just killing yourself but ruining millions of generations tomorrow

The problem that I wish to raise today for my Mega Project is Plastic pollution. Due to increased use of plastic bottles for soft drinks there have been massive addition in plastic waste generation all around the world. The problem might be overwhelming itself and it should, the only reason for which I stepped up to this issue is that every year 400 billion tons of plastic waste is generated worldwide affecting livestock, marine life and many more.

These are some of the photographs I have obtained from the internet because in my city Karachi I couldn’t find plastic bottle waste in my immediate surroundings because Karachi is a developing city and people here usually keep plastic water bottles for further future use.

These photographs are a clear evidence that plastic bottle waste is a global issue and this is what my Mega Project idea targets.

I first raised this issue to my Environmental Engineering teacher, Dr. Abdul Ghaffar who had the following to say, “As an environmentalist I have observed this more than anyone that how plastic waste is destroying the nature because you know plastic stays undecomposed for about 200 years, so there was this conference I attended in 2004 in Shanghai during my PhD which explained us how plastic components while staying into the ground are becoming a part of our food, that is, the vegetables and fruits that we get from ground and I think we all are being affected by it without even knowing it.”

Another person that I met with my idea was the cleaning in-charge who informed me that he has to segregate plastic waste from other waste because our university is moving towards environment saving mission and do not allow plastic waste to be thrown with other waste. According to him, “We come here at 7 A.M, way before staff and faculty and students, and we have to clean every room and corridor and then when university ends we have to empty the dustbins and segregate waste, it takes us 2–3 hours to do this and I am working 7–9 daily. Only if they stop throwing plastic away your university will not be so cautious and let us go home early.”

Plastic waste has become massive and affecting us in the worst way possible. It has entered into our food chain, affecting our marine life and in the worst way if we try to burn it then it will release tremendous harmful gases that can kill our environment. My targeted waste in plastic waste itself are plastic bottles, something that we everyday buy in the face of soft drinks and juices. All around the world consumption from these bottles is just one time (excluding developing countries) and they are thrown as trash, openly into the ground which is resulting into heaps of plastic bottle waste being created everywhere. Therefore, I wish to free the environment from plastic bottle waste which I believe can be handled more easily.

To understand this problem more I did a survey back in my junior year where I developed a google form questionnaire to ask people how they treat their bottle waste so that I can estimate the exact quantity of waste that is being generated from every household.

I also went to my Environmental Engineering professor to inquire from him his observations and his knowledge behind my targeted topic, since; he is a more experienced personality in this domain and he gave me a better and clearer insight on this issue.

Next I interviewed the cleaning department head to inquire if plastic waste actually bothers him or if it only in him head.

Another person that I talked to informally is my classmate who usually visits beaches and seaside and I asked her if she also thinks plastic waste is there ruining all the fun of being at the sea and she informed me that only when he is barefoot, she accidentally hits some dug plastic bottle and it once injured her foot too. From this I got to know that plastic bottle waste is just not a harm to the environment, it is a nuisance as well!

When coming to talk about the experience of research on this issue then yes it has been great for the following reasons;

1. This topic was there in my head since 1.5 year but my mother trashed it and I never encouraged myself to bring this back, today Amal did it.
2. I got to go deeper especially by interacting with my professor who helped me get specific with the problem.
3. This research helped me target my audience and the ones who I can work with.
4. It made me more determined and more responsible to work on this issue.
5. This also encouraged me to consider Environmental Engineering for my masters.
6. I got to interact with people, it brought me close to achieving my life goal of becoming an extrovert.
7. I took leadership for a change without announcing that I am the authority for it.