Marble Processing — Polluting Karachi
A white powder dispersed in the air making it difficult to breathe and see beyond a few meters, mixing with the food being sold on the roadside and covering everything in the vicinity from vehicle seats on this road to furniture at homes . This is a scene I witnessed in Karachi’s neighborhood of Manghopir.
Most inhabitants of this area belong to the working-class, the cohort that plays a very important role in the production of goods and materials that bring valuable foreign reserves in Pakistan. The uncertain and shaky economy makes them even more important for the future progress and prosperity. But seeing the atrocities faced by people will make you ponder how they live here…?
The large marble industry along the Manghopir road spans more that 10km and comprises hundreds of factories. It produces not only the fine class marble, but also the white powder as a waste product of Marble being processed. I was anxious to find the root causes of this worsened air condition, therefore decided to visit some marble processing factories.
It was surprising to find that there was not much pollution or powder dispersed inside the factories than in the neighbourhood. The marble cutting and processing has various stages. The large stone pieces arrive on trucks from Balochistan and undergo different steps before being shaped into thin sheets and slabs to be used in different places. These stones are cut with large electric saws having inbuilt water sprinklers which assure that the residuals do not contaminate or pollute the environment. This water is used again and again to lower the temperature of saw and prevent particles from entering the environment. Each iteration adds more marble wastage to it, making it thicker until it almost turns into a clay like substance.
This water is stored in large underground tanks. Once it is viscous enough that it can not be used further, it is pumped out into the water tankers to be dumped outside the factories. There are proper protocols defined by Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) to dump the industrial waste (including this clay like substance). However, the private contractors that transport waste material rarely follow any of those and frequently dump it into the vacant residential and commercial plots in the neighbourhood especially along the local roads. It does not take long for it to be dried in the scorching sunny weather of the metropolitan and get into the powder form again. Which enters into the environment as the wind carries it and causes unmeasurable health risks.
This whole cycle is a result of criminal negligence of responsible institutions and the government which is not doing any measurable action to cater this problem. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) highlight the key actions necessary for the sustainable future that involve saving the planet and taking steps to alleviate environmental pollution. However, unfortunately, not much is being done to achieve those sustainable goals in this area.
I talked to a few residents and found a report on this issue to know the problems and threat it poses. People face different pulmonary diseases due to the high air pollution, the problem of shortness of breath and even kidney related diseases are high in numbers here.
The broken roads with powder mixed dust make life miserable. There is a desperate need to take actions to ensure proper dumping of this hazardous waste. However, one better idea would be to take this problem as an opportunity and recycle it. As part of Amal Academy’s project work, I am curious to find how this waste can be used to make something useful. This will not only solve this pollution issue but also generate revenue for an entrepreneur who is willing to solve this problem. I am confident that a viable solution can be proposed for recycling this powder. Mainly for making bricks or blocks, by mixing it with cement and other materials, to be used in construction work. I see this as an opportunity to not only contribute to the betterment of society but also create a venture which can have an impact on the economical sector as well.
