‘Transitioning to ‘zero waste’ critical to fight climate change’

KARACHI: Plastic waste is global problem, creating mountains of waste and contribute to global warming.

For businesses of all sizes, transitioning to “zero waste” through environmentally-responsible production, consumption, reuse, and recovery of plastics is an important path to limiting the impacts of climate change and temperature rise to 1.5 degrees.

The Pakistan Business Council and The British High Commission, Islamabad have launched a knowledge series for businesses in Pakistan to raise awareness on how businesses in Pakistan have committed to the Race to Zero campaign.

"It presents an excellent opportunity to stock-take on how Pakistan’s business sector views both the risks and opportunities which exist in relation to climate change," highlighted Ehsan Malik, Chief Executive Officer of The Pakistan Business Council. "We are pleased to have members who can demonstrate innovative practices of reusing plastic waste".

Plastics are made primarily from fossil fuels. By reducing, reusing, and recycling we can cut down on the large quantities of fossil fuels used to produce plastics and in doing so, reduce emissions by a significant level.

According to a report by WWF Global, in 2021 alone, researchers estimate that the production and incineration of plastic will pump more than 850 million tonnes of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

"Our responsibility lies in rethinking the role of plastics in their business by keeping plastic in use for as long as possible in a circular loop system by collecting, processing and reusing it," said Amir Paracha, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman Unilever Pakistan.

"We have partnered with the UNDP to make it a plastics free city by 2025".

Resource efficiency and resource circularity are central pillars of the circular economy approach. "Gatron currently recycles and reuses 14 million plastic bottles a month to make polymers which is then used to produce Polyester Filament Yarn for textiles," elaborated Rizwan Diwan, Executive Director, Gatron Novatex.