Waste Handling; Issues, Causes

and Consequences
Environmental Anthropology

ZARAK TARIQ KHAN

12550
 Contents
Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 2

Map ......................................................................................................................................... 3

Major Themes of the Research .................................................................................... 4

Humanistic Approach to the Concept of Waste Handling ........................... 4

Political Aspects of Waste Handling ...................................................................... 8

Different Approaches to the consequences of Unhandled Waste.......... 11

Theoretical Framework .................................................................................................. 14

Ethics..................................................................................................................................... 15

Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 16
Introduction

The topic I choose to research on is Waste Handling; Issues, Causes and Consequences. It is

quite a broad topic to be researching on. Therefore, I chose to experiment on a few sites only

that were located in a 1-km radius from my location.

The thing with Waste is that everyone contributes to it but no one wants to take the

responsibility for it (not even the Government bodies in Karachi). This is sad but true, and this

shows the kind of mindsets that we govern with.

Waste handling is not a specialized art but an extremely simple model that if followed could

be the end of Karachi’s pollution problem. This research will talk about all kinds of issues

based of different themes that I came across during my field visit to three unique sites. But

where there are issues, there are causes and consequences as well. In my case, the consequences

of the issues have been unimaginably adverse in nature while the causes include simple human

nature issues like blame games, denying the importance of clean environment and obviously

habits.

This research has a high level of significance for the residents of the city. Karachi, once known

as the city of lights, is now famous for its trashy streets and people urgently have to act on it.

This research will portray all the sources and causes of the increased garbage spills in the city.

If we get to know the source of the problem, we can easily eliminate the cause and help improve

the conditions of our society.

There will be three major themes discussed in this research. Each theme would be deliberated

in a way that it reveals the internal and external side of the story. We often judge based on the

external image that we perceive instead to getting in-depth of the problem, and I am going to

bring the readers with what I have experienced in my long hours of study.
Map
The following is the map of the three sites that I have keenly visited and observed during my

anthropology research. The map is extracted from Google Maps and the three sites; Site A, Site

B and Site C have been marked in the map.

Site A is an extra-large size trash can placed by the Government Authorities at Maskan

Chowrangi. Site B consists of a small piece of land with a bunch of normal sized trashcan

placed by one of the restaurants for their personal use. However, Site C is an illegal waste land

that the flat owners have captured for their household waste.
Major Themes of the Research
There are three main themes that this research would reflect upon:

Humanistic Approach to the Concept of Waste Handling

One of the main observations I’ve made in my research is related to basic human behavior and

attitude towards the concept of waste handling. The basic outline of this theme is how humans

are lazy enough to bring a change in the society. The most ignorant of the people would say if

asked regarding cleanliness of the society, “Jaisay chal raha hai chalnay do!” (Let it happen

the way it is happening) or “Khuda Maalik hai!” (God is the owner). These are the kind of

people who are self-centered and would make the most noise when things get out of hand.

Another kind of them include people who’d sit on chai stands and loudly chant with their

fellows, “Is mulk ka kuch nahi ho sakta?” (Nothing good can happen to this country) or

“Hamaari hakumat kuch nahi karahi!” (The government is doing nothing). These are the kind

of humans with an ill personality trait that is that they would blame everything on others and

won’t bring a change to their lives. They’ll leave the plastic wrappers of their snacks, while

chirping on a cup of tea, on the table or down on the ground. Small changes don’t matter to

them. They are believers of miracles. They expect the government to bring a change to make

the society cleaner but won’t lend a hand themselves.

After them are another level of people. The site B that I have been covering in my research is

basically an area of a few square feet with two dustbins placed by one of the restaurants that

serve there. It is placed there for the purpose of throwing the left overs from the restaurant in

it. But quite lately, it’s cleanliness has been a major problem for the restaurants it’s surrounded

by. These dustbins can be used by anyone who is walking on the street. The kind of people I’m

referring to are students of college or university. They are energetic individuals but the whole
technological boom that the world has come across has made them lazy and prone to

procrastination. I came across many of these people during my field visit. Around 70% of these

people are men and others women. They are the most consuming of the plastic snacks like a

bag of chip or biscuit, and would usually either throw it on the ground or in some cases aim for

the bin but eventually miss the shot. They are educated individuals and they have probably read

about how it is going to affect them and the whole process of climate change but they’re still

reluctant to actually think about the environment. These people might have been a part of the

whole movement of tree plantation to make the environment better but their minds won’t allow

them to bring in such a small change in their habits.

The fourth category of such people are the worst category. These are people who consume what

is locally known as Gotka. These are the people who have a leftist approach to a clean

environment. They won’t even take a bath. They are like pigs. They have been in a dirty

environment for so long that they think it’s their home and they take it as their core

responsibility to maintain the ‘dirt standards’ of the society. It’s very embarrassing to say but

they have become the first image of Karachi that comes to your mind when you introduce it to

someone never been to this city of lights. These people eat paans and gutkas, and think that all

land belongs to them so they spit anywhere they want and every spit leaves a red mark on the

ground that can’t be cleaned by simple mopping since it takes rubbing of a wet towel to clean

these marks. Phrases like “Hamaari baap ki zameen hai” (This land belong to my Daddy) or

“Mera Moo, Meri Marzi” (My Mouth, My Choice) are commonly heard of these kind of

people’s mouths.

These were the four kinds of humanistic attitude and behavior that I came across during my

research. The fifth kind are obviously the responsible ones. They have no specific age, no

specific identity. They are revolution-friendly people who respect the Quaid of the country and
have been parented in the right way. They would not blame anyone but very quietly contribute

to keeping the environment clean and clear of any kind of waste. An example of such people

was a old man who stopped his car and came out of his luxury with a paper bag with a few

plastic wrappers and threw it into the bin at site A. This act was small but it shows how he is

doing his duty well.

To shed light on the specifics of this theme, I’ve dedicated every field visit of the month of

April and May to observe the everchanging attitude of humans and I’ll say one thing that I’ve

learnt about humans, they’re unpredictable. There have been instances where I saw humans

innocently caring about the world and instances where the same humans treated the planet as a

garbage dump.

That being said, let’s move to the real aspect of the theme, waste handling. Waste handling was

always an issue in Karachi because of the growing population of the city and the unplanned

structure of the city. Obviously, the ignorant human nature is also to be blamed for this. I talked

about certain kinds of humans a little while ago that I personally experienced. Most of the them

were negative remarks and I felt I’ve shown the negative image of the field and their people,

and now it’s time to emphasize on the positivity in humans that was rare no doubt but shouldn’t

in any way be ignored.

I kept sitting at the Chai Restaurant for a week to notice human behavior closely. I saw that

children who crossed the area seemed to be more responsible. It was 2:20 pm and I saw a child

with his father carrying a bag of chips on which he was chirping on and there was a dustbin

about a few steps away. His father saw that the chips had finished in the bag and grabbed the

plastic wrapper and boldly threw it down the floor. The father failed to show his son the

importance of cleanliness but what happened next was dramatic. The child saw this and picked

the wrapper up and told his father that he wanted to threw it into the dustbin. The father,
embarrassed on his actions, picked his kid up and took him to the dustbin a few steps away.

The kid threw the wrapper and it was like a father-son moment that was created off such a

small ignorable issue. Thinking about what happened, I concluded that there is always a little

humanity inside everyone but there should be a driving force for us. We need to have a

motivation to fix our environment. Motivated individuals give out powerful results.

In another instance, I saw a football team walk through the foot-path at Maskan Chowrangi.

They were all in their jerseys and were drinking soda cans since they were all thirsty and

coming back from the game. Since they were seated right next to me, I could over hear them.

They talked about how one of them was collecting plastic cans to get it recycled at a factory in

North Karachi. In fact, the soda cans they were consuming at that time were collected by one

of them and put into a bag. This shows how people have been taking initiatives for the

environment and making bucks out of it as well. This industry, if developed in the right way,

could one day become a billion dollar industry!

There were many other instances that could be talked about but the main theme is that humans

are of all kinds. You can judge them in any possible way. They can be good or bad or fun or

dull but that is what makes them human. On the other side, environment is at a serious crisis

point and as much as big actions are needed, the small ones are also needed.
Political Aspects of Waste Handling

This is an important aspect that can’t easily be understood well. Everyone talks about this

aspect but only a few individuals actually know the reality behind it. The main reason politics

has been classified as a theme separately from the first theme is because the term is broad and

can’t be left unheard in the research.

There is politics on two different levels here; government to citizens, citizen to citizen. The

Maskan area comes under the jurisdiction of the MNA of NA243 who is an able person and

runs a social non-governmental organization known as Fixit that drive campaigns to bring

prosperity to the city of Karachi. However, Maskan chowrangi hasn’t been given any extra

importance for the way it is. We can, in other words, say that its existence has been ignored by

the authorities for a while. I couldn’t talk to the Government officials about the topic because

it was out of my reach but I did come across the assigned people for cleaning the streets of

Maskan a few times during my research project. These people came in the morning hours but

on selected days of the week.

During an interview with one of the assigned individuals by the Sindh Government (whose

name is kept confidential), I found out that the Government has assigned them rotational duties

for every day. But since there is a lack of check and balance from the government side, they

don’t usually show up. He said that this ‘lack of check and balance’ is also political since people

from a certain political parties are just taking their salaries and doing other jobs for an earning.

If there would be a check and balance, then there will be problem for these ‘Na Maloom Afraad’

(unknown people). He said that a change was required but the federal government can only

bring this revolution. He promised that he was fed up of this system and wanted to be a part of

a newer and better Pakistan but he alone cannot bring a change.

The other aspect of the politics is between citizen to citizen. There are many small fast food

businesses at the Maskan street. All businesses produce waste and it has to go somewhere at

the end. At site B, the two restaurants who’d use the trash bins had initially divided the task of

cleaning up between each other but turns out one of them blamed the other for producing a

higher percent of waste than them and proposed that they take up the duty of cleaning it up.

This escalated tensions between the neighbors and delayed the process of cleaning trash bins.

The filth that came with it gathered loads of insects and stray animals as well as birds that made

the place smelly and may have contributed to diseases in people since that was close to where

people would sit to drink tea after asr hours. Deep down, both the restaurants were losing

customers because of it since no one likes to sit in a dirty environment but their egos weren’t

letting them think out of the box.

Another inter-citizen political aspect was seen at site C. Site C is basically a waste land that is

guarded by walls from three side and isn’t really visible from the main maskan road. However,

it’s around 10 meters away from the main gate of a society with multiple flats. Although, there

are garbage disposal workers actively working everyday but some flat owners have chosen to

save a few pennies and throw it out on this land. During my research, I saw kids under 10

coming with black garbage bags and throwing it in this dump. There is a pungent smell coming

from this area. The political aspect of this is that the government owners are paid by the society

owners after every second month to let them dispose the waste in this land. This amount

collectively isn’t as much as the total payment made to the garbage disposal squad. Therefore,

some society members have collectively decided to go for this cheaper package. They are

completely ignorant of the fact that during rainy weather, this would be the number one cause

of catching a disease and then these same children who have been assigned this duty of waste

disposal might be the first ones to be affected by it.

The last month saw a big positive change in the environment at maskan chowrangi. It was

unexpected but the people of the society at Site C finally realized what their children were

going through this whole time. Therefore, the all collected money from the society members

and got a big fancy machine to take care of the waste. The waste was picked up and shifted to

some other area that the government authorized.

I liked how the people went above the politics and realized that it was their responsibility to

address their issues if the government isn’t taking any action. They took crowd funding as an

option and made the relevant changes to their society. I talked to one of the guards at the society

gate who told me that one of the members knew someone in the Waste Department of Sindh

Government and he made it possible to bring this machine since the Government owns these

machines. All the payment, however, was made under the table and the task was accomplished.

He further said that the citizens of the society have united in their hopes to improve their living

standards and are now going to work on other problems as well.

This inspires me because it is a clear cut example of how if we unite we can achieve anything.

An alone person might not have afforded this and living under an ignorant government,

someone has to take action to improve their lives.

I’m glad the thought over the concepts of politics and played their card well. Politics has

destroyed our society and we have forgotten the essence of the world ‘politics’ and its real

meaning. Site C therefore is no more a waste land but a clean land with newly planted trees

as well.

We have to think above citizen to citizen, restaurant to restaurant, citizen to government

politics to achieve success in our mission to live in a cleaner society.

Different Approaches to the consequences of Unhandled Waste

Before this, I’ve talked about what has been happening in the field and the different approaches

that I found interesting related to it but this theme is where I’ll be going in depth of what could

happen if the waste isn’t handled in the right manner.

We assume that the ideal state of this is a clean, waste free maskan with the shopkeepers using

paper bags for grocery instead of plastic bags, and with different dustbins placed for different

categories of waste (i.e. one can for plastic bottles, one for plastic wrappers, one for different

kinds of paper etc.) that incorporates the idea of recycling. A handful of trees that keep the air

fresher and a complete ban of items like gutka in public that contributes to a dirty environment.

The government keeping a complete check and balance on their workers and the corrupt

officers who display an unethical image of the government.

But we know that the chances are really low for this to happen keeping in mind the last two

themes. Therefore, assuming all conditions to be constant, I expect that the situation of the area

of maskan would get even more severe. Site A which is set up by the government itself with a

few trashcans that too are so old and rusty would probably depreciate even more in an year and

then it won’t be able to provide capacity and that would end up in garbage spreading all over

the roads and the streets. For a certain period of time, it would be bearable but after that people

would have to wear masks to visit maskan since a pungent smell would be felt in the area. Soon

after, people would want to ignore this piece of land and vehicle owners would shut their

vehicle’s windows tight and this means a shift in the customers from this food spot to other

spots in the city. Illegal dump sites would get so high that the residential value of land would

fall and no one would want to live in these same societies that contribute to it today. This is

one of the possible consequence and I hope people that includes me open their eyes before any

major havoc occurs.

While talking to one of the waiters at the chai dhaaba near Site B, I heard him saying “Yei

hamaari hi apni ghalti hai!” (This is our own mistake). This shows a sense of acknowledgement

from the people. This is the most important part of it. Where are we going with this? How long

do we have? We don’t know but what we know is when can we collectively take a stand against

this and bring a positive change to the environment. We need to take care of our surroundings

as if we were taking care of our children. People my age are going to be the most responsible

for this since we are at the peak points of our lives with all the energy and time, and if we

decide to collaborate amongst each other, there is no power on earth that could stop us from

reaching sustainable environmental standards.

This research has sparked in me the importance of a cleaner environment and I think is my

responsibility to create a team and solve the environmental issues of my locality. I’ve been

crossing these sites since 3 years and never have I ever thought of cleaning these areas but this

research opened my eyes. A small change in our daily lifestyle could bring a significant change

to the environment.

After this research, I’m planning to do whatever would be possible for me in my locality and I

hope whoever reads this does it for their locality. Planet Earth might be our temporary home

but one should still give it the kind of respect we give our homes.

Waste Handling is broader than what has been discussed in this research but I hope with the

kind of reality that I’ve exposed in this research would give people a positive purpose to their

lives and if we go big, we might be able to tackle issues like global warming and climate

change.

The last month has been phenomenal in terms of progress towards a better society. As already

covered, Site C is no more a wasteland but is now a clean and clear ground with trees and a

little vegetation. This is because of the joint effort by the society members of the area.
Moreover, the restaurant that owned the dustbins went bankrupt and has closed their services.

They’ve moved out and now the Chai Dhaba has set up their own dustbins that are new and

cleaner than the ones before. Also, they are more spacious. This changing landscape of the sites

I chose were purely co-incidental and I had no idea what had been going on.

However, I take this as a positive landscape change for the residents of the society. It almost

feels like all this time there had been some non-human powerful entity taking care of these

people. This structural change has, however, improved the conditions of the area. The number

of current problems have reduced but coming back to the theme, I fear that the consequences

of this would be the same in a while.

The people around don’t realize the importance of these and are still acting the same. The

societal norms aren’t being follows obediently and the same conditions are surely going to

prevail in around a month’s time. Unhealthy people, Unhygienic food (due to dirty

environment) and Unclean lands are again going to be common.

As far as the dirt sweeping in concerned, the area had a cleanliness drive from the students of

NED Karachi who just before Ramadan made sure roads and side paths were clean for the

people. However, judging from my visit on 10th Ramadan, things have reached back to the kind

of dirty they were and the government agencies have also become lazier than before in this

month of peace and tranquility.

The consequences, we don’t realize, are going to be terrifying. Just a few weeks ago, we’ve

had severe sandstorm in Karachi that has happened after so many years. The climate is

changing and we need to start taking action from ourselves and our environment. We have to

reduce plastic consumption and start with the recycling. The government and us together have

so many obstacles to overcome and so many cleanliness achievements to achieve.

Theoretical Framework
My research has been revolving around the basic concepts of waste handling at a neighborhood

marketplace i.e. Maskan. With that kept in in mind, I’ve found the most appropriate theoretical

framework that basically relates to what I wanted to give out from this research and it talks

about how the consequences of waste handling might be.

This relevant and interesting book that I came across has a theory of obsession with nature.

The book is called ‘ Troubled Nature: Waste, Environment and Japan”. The author of the book

is Peter Kirby who has been into Anthropology of Japan since long.

The only difference is the kind of societies we’re relating to. He is talking about pro-modern

world that includes Japan which is a highly forward and technological world with a boosted

economy. However, on the other hand, I catering to a developing world. Pakistani economy

has been on an all time low right now and the people living here have low earnings compared

to the Japanese world.

He talks about the incinerators that Japan has installed for its waste management and the kind

of recycling the people are into in Japan. Although incinerators are bad but Pakistani need it

and recycling to keep the excess waste removed. Tokyo produces 5.17 million tons of waste

every year (2002) and they have found ways to deal with it. This is hope for Karachi since it

produces a lot of waste.

The government there have been very responsible and that is something our government has to

look into as well. People have to be obsessed with the nature to the point that their obsession

grows to obsession with the obsession of their respective lands.

His theories are very indirectly related to my topic but I liked how Japan has been dealing with

so much hate even after they’ve done so much better for their people. It might just be how the

modern world works.

Ethics
This research has been an eye opening experience for me. Sitting around in the vicinity of my

home and neighborhood, I could have never imagined the intensity of this issue. Waste

Handling is a key issue of our society that needs to be addressed with highest priority.

As far as facing ethical dilemma is concerned, I saw very disturbing scenes at the site which

made me thank God for what he has given me. I saw children merely the age of 5 to 7 who

were beggars sleeping on these maskan streets and feeding on the leftovers in the garbage cans.

I saw one of them literally licking a leftover paper with mayonnaise layer. This shows how the

society we live in is barely surviving. This makes up for a huge population of people who are

homeless, and live and feed on these garbage tanks.

Questions raised in my mind about the conditions of the state we were living in. The income

and living standard disparity is uncanny. Why are we not taking our environment seriously?

Do we not see the extreme weather conditions that the world is facing since a few years? Global

Warming? Climate Change?

If things get worse, there will be no rich/poor, no good/bad. Rather it’ll be survival of the fittest.

Our moods switch with the environment conditions and that could explain why people living

in these areas are a little arrogant in nature than from all over the country.

I’ve realized that the biggest problem is the ignorance. It could be ignorance of the society

citizens, outsiders or the government but it is nevertheless the main issue we’re facing. We

need to swiftly address this and make our lands prosper. Clean and green Karachi is better than

industrialized or commercialized Karachi specially for the people who’re living in the city.

Therefore, my main concern has always been the fact that we see that things are falling but still

aren’t ready to take any action. Why is that so? I think only God knows why!
Conclusion
This research has focused on every aspect of waste handling i.e. the issues, causes &

consequences with regard to the field that was chosen. As far as the ethnographic research that

I have done in this research, I can easily conclude with a line that ‘human behavior is as

unpredictable as it can get’. We run on motivations to live and that is just how we are.

With all the stories that I included in this research, it’s okay to say that the government isn’t

doing what it is supposed to do; serve the common man. The day the government realizes that

they are the servants of the nation’s common people, they’ll start doing well.

On the other hand, we, the citizens of the society, haven’t shown much progress either. We do

the nastiest of things in public and private, and can’t contribute less to a key problem like waste

management issue. We’re lagging behind and we have to take a stand. It is for the better of us

and the next generations that are going to come. They can be our motivation for a better world.

Waste Handling has always been ignored by the people, by the government, by the commercial

businesses in Karachi and we have to do something to get it all going again. We need to remind

people of this and the issues that have already reached us. Karachi has lost its essence because

of all the waste that is around. Tourists are avoiding Karachi because of it. We can’t control

population so easily but we can at least control the waste that we’re producing.

It’s all up to us now and I just hope, I just hope that our eyes open for the good of ourselves

and our people so that we start doing good to the society.

Hoping this research opens the eyes of its readers!

 THANK YOU

Sir Abdul Haque Chang