Pakistan

Consumption

The country's literacy rate is one of the lowest in the world, contributing to low levels of awareness and concern regarding waste disposal. Likewise, the 3Rs of “reduce, reuse, and recycle” remain unknown and are usually implemented for monetary gains by those who make a living at it. The disregard for appropriate waste disposal is especially problematic in urban areas. Despite being an agrarian society with the majority of the population employed in agriculture, there is a steady trend of rural-urban migration, with more than one-third of the population living in urban areas in the beginning of the 21st century.

Consumption patterns and availability of goods and services vary starkly between rural and urban areas. Grains, dairy, housing, and health are luxuries in urban areas, whereas fruit, poultry, durable food items, electricity, and entertainment are scarce in rural areas. On the other hand, education is a luxury for all, since the good schools and institutes are private and costly. In urban areas, a consumer culture is rapidly establishing itself, but given the low purchasing capacity, the market is full of poor-quality items with a limited life span, which ultimately increases the amount of waste produced.

The country's consumption of ozone-depleting chlorofluocarbons is the 14th-highest in the world. In addition, Pakistan has high levels of oil consumption, which has always been greater than the available resources, and continues to rise as oil remains the primary fuel for transport and for generation of electricity. Although originally suspected to have several oil reserves, no new discoveries have been made since the 1980s, and a considerable amount of oil is imported. The natural gas reserves, on the other hand, are richer, with the main source being Sui in the southwestern province of Balochistan. Consequently, there was a drive to shift many vehicles from petroleum to compressed natural gas (CNG). While half of the energy consumption is already provided by natural gas, the resources of coal (which is mostly low grade) and natural gas have not been exploited to their full capacity. An Alternative Energy Board was established in 2003 with the aim of alleviating the electricity shortage by generating power through other means, particularly waste-to-energy (WTE) [Page 654]technologies. Far-reaching results, however, had not yet appeared as of 2010.

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