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Environmental Consequences of Food Packaging Disposal in Urban Pakistan: A Case Study of Multan
Nimra Fayaz, Sobia Aslam, Rabbia Amin, Umaima Maryam
Abstract:
Packaging waste is one of the biggest proportion of the municipal solid waste stream in the world, and a significant source of environmental degradation in developing countries that do not have effective waste management systems. This study aims to explore the environmental impacts of the disposal of food-packaging waste in Multan, Pakistan, from educational, commercial, public, residential, and canal sites, during three seasons (pre-Ramadan, Ramadan, and Eid al-Fitr) for four months (February to May 2022), using systematic quantitative field observations. Packaging items and disposal events were counted at each site at three independent visit-replicates per month, with the same amount of effort in standardising the sampling, resulting in a fully balanced set of 348 observation records, analysed using generalised linear models for repeated measures count data. This is an almost exclusive use of non-biodegradable low-density polyethylene (LDPE) bags and expanded-polystyrene (Styrofoam) containers, which were the only materials used at all sites and no alternatives were found that are biodegradable or environmentally labelled. Packaging waste was found to differ significantly among months (all p-values < 0.001) such as a peak before Ramadan (32 percent above the February baseline) and during Ramadan (47 percent above the February baseline) and a decrease after Eid, while the distribution of the disposal methods did not show any seasonal differences. The three most prevalent disposal methods were open burning (emissions of carcinogenic dioxins, furans, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons); aquatic dumping (incurring microplastic pollution in canals); and terrestrial dumping (soil pollution on agricultural land, soil fertility and food security). The study sets the context of Multan in the broader context of the urban landscape of Pakistan, and contrasts it with Abbottabad, Karachi and Islamabad, while situating the problem within the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs 3, 11 and 12). The main advantage is that it quantifies the religious-seasonal dynamics in the analysis of packaging waste in cities, which is rarely discussed in Pakistani academic circles. The policy response should be multi-pronged: a legally-binding ban on the use of plastics that applies across the whole of Punjab, environmental labelling, investment in biodegradable alternatives to plastics, and mosque-led campaigns using the communal nature of Ramadan.
Keywords:
Food packaging; environmental pollution; plastic waste; Multan; Ramadan; solid waste management; Pakistan; biodegradable materials; SDGs; open burning
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