^{Designed in Canva}

---

How do you feel about littering and its penalties in your country?

---

Littering is completely inappropriate. It's concerning that we want to keep our homes clean but litter on roads and in parks. Plastic bottles and bags, paper and cardboard pieces, cigarette butts - we throw all this on roads and in drains. Seeing this is very disheartening. If we keep our homes clean then why do we litter outside?

I get that strict anti-littering rules and fines are necessary, otherwise people will keep trashing public spaces. I read somewhere that there are very heavy fines for littering in Singapore, which is why there is great cleanliness there. In our country, first of all such fines mostly don't exist and even if they do somewhere, they don't seem to be implemented properly. Our government needs to pay attention to this matter. And the police should make sure to catch litterers by imposing strict fines. When there are consequences, people will think twice before littering.

But fines alone won't work. We'll also need to educate people on why littering is wrong. More awareness programmes should be run in schools and colleges. Ads should also be shown on social media and TV that communicate how littering harms our health and environment. Only when people's mindsets change will this issue be solved.

In my opinion, littering is a huge problem in our country. To eradicate it, the government, police and public - all will have to work together. Making rules and implementing them strictly is very important. And we'll have to change our mindsets to become more responsible and civic-minded.

---

Is waste turned into a source of income in your country? What are the benefits?

---

The Pakistani government is making efforts to improve waste disposal and management. Some cities have implemented waste segregation rules, so different types of waste can be disposed of judiciously. There are also some factories that recycle plastic and metal. But still very few. Only 1-2% waste is processed properly, the rest is dumped on roadsides and in landfills.

I believe there are many benefits of converting waste into income and resources.

• Saves money and resources spent on waste disposal and landfills.

• Valuable materials can be extracted, reused and recycled, reducing production costs.

• Creates jobs for waste collectors and workers.

• Electricity or fuel can also be produced from waste, e.g. biogas.

I think the Government should research and formulate better policies around this. Corporates and entrepreneurs should also invest in the waste industry. The public can also reduce, reuse and recycle waste from their end. With such collaborative efforts, perhaps we can turn waste into an asset.

---

What’s your strategy for eco-friendly household waste management?

---

Waste management should start from our homes. To do this, every household needs to follow some principles to minimize and responsibly dispose of waste generated at home.

Firstly, make lifestyle changes - use reusable bags and bottles instead of plastic ones, eat fresh foods instead of frozen stuff, store things in reusable containers instead of disposable ones.

Secondly, start recycling at home - compost vegetable peels and leftover food to make natural fertilizer for plants/gardens.

Segregate paper, cardboard, plastic, glass and metals. Give to recycling trucks or take directly to recycling plants (if available in your city) in exchange for some money. This way you also earn something!

Thirdly, donate any electronics or furniture you cannot reuse to charities for others to use. Broken utensils can also be repaired through welding and reused instead of replacing. With such simple but effective ways, household waste can be greatly minimized.

---

Can waste accumulation in your country affect neighbouring countries? How so?

---

It's true that excessive waste piling up in one country can sneakily affect neighboring ones. Because whenever there is too much pollution in an ecosystem beyond its self-cleaning capacity, it impacts a wider geographical area.

For example, if air and water pollution in our cities and industrial areas becomes extreme, it will affect regional climate patterns and weather systems. This can easily reach our neighbours through monsoon winds and ocean currents. Similarly, if our water bodies get so polluted that their self-purification stops, this pollution can get transferred downstream to areas that may belong to our neighbours.

Plastic waste creates a similar problem as it easily travels via water channels and reaches oceans. Here it disturbs marine ecosystems. And when we talk of global warming, majorly caused by greenhouse gases, it impacts the whole planet - causing extreme weather events and rising sea levels.

So, we must view pollution and ecosystem damage from a global, not regional perspective, as their impacts always go beyond local levels. Countries will need to jointly address this issue, or else no one alone will find respite from it.

---

I trust that you found the information in my article to be valuable. 😊

---

^{I would like to invite @ripon0630, @xkool24, @mile16, @sualeha, @inspiracion, @josepha, @muzack1 and @f2i5 to join this contest through this link, if they have not already taken part in it.}

---

^{Author: @waqarahmadshah | Date: 29-Jan-2024 | Achievement 1}