‘Policy to address issue of food waste to be introduced’

Islamabad: The climate change ministry would introduce a policy to avoid negative impacts of food waste on the natural environment.

According to the details, the food waste generated in Pakistan mostly consists of organic materials that usually result in environmental degradation. The experts have also discussed this issue and came to the conclusion that bio-reactors can greatly help cope with this issue.

But it will be a daunting task for the cash-starved federal and provincial governments to make bio-reactors across the country to deal with the issue of food waste. An estimated 36 million tonnes of food is wasted in Pakistan every year. This is equivalent to every citizen of Karachi, Lahore, and Hyderabad tossing out entire lunches and dinners every day.

An official said the organic materials in the food waste are quite detrimental to the natural environment and they are making plans to address this issue with the help of the local communities.

“The main problem is the lack of knowledge among the people about the importance of preservation and protection of the natural environment. Once they get to know about it they will be able to make their valuable contributions with their own available resources,” he said.

It is pertinent to mention here that the research organizations working in the field of environment and climate change have already pointed out that climate change can have a domino effect in the South Asian countries and negatively affect the regional security due to large-scale migration of the people.

Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Climate Change Malik Amin Aslam has said the government has already called upon the plastic producers to play their part in managing the menace of plastic waste in a sustainable manner, which is playing havoc with the environment and public health. He said, “We are evaluating various proposals to deal with the issue of food waste and, hopefully, will introduce a policy to address it on a permanent basis.”