Author: Zainab Iqtedar
In this age of consumerism, it is difficult to cut down on buying stuff. But the effects of consumerism are dire and far-reaching. All the waste of the products we buy ends up in landfills, or worse, the oceans. Living in Pakistan, it is near impossible to go completely zero-waste, as there are not a lot of sustainable options for everyday items that we need to live. But what we can do is buy less packaged products in order to cut down on plastic and other waste.
In March of 2020, I started a 2 week long low-waste challenge, and a few of my friends joined in. The premise was to completely cut down on packaged foods, reduce my water usage, and minimize waste overall. I figured out quite quickly from observing my family’s daily consumption that plastic was hard to avoid. We got the meat in plastic shoppers, as well as fruits and vegetables. For fruits and vegetables cloth bags or baskets could be used. There was also the use of packaged spices for making food.
Some waste is unavoidable. However, I completely avoided packaged snacks like biscuits, chips, and soft drinks. This helped me adopt a healthier lifestyle as well, and while it was quite difficult to cut down on having biscuits with my chai at first, by the end of the two weeks and even after, I did not get the urge to have biscuits at all!
In terms of reducing water consumption, I only opened the taps halfway and took 5-minute timed showers. I don’t exactly know how much water I ended up saving but I did feel satisfied that I was doing my part.
One thing that I missed doing in these 2 weeks was baking, as there was plastic or cardboard waste in nearly every ingredient I wanted to use. So, the first thing I did after this challenge ended was bake some brownies.
I think the challenge was a learning experience for me, because I got to know that a lot of things I use or consume are not necessary. Snacks, for example, can be consumed in moderation. Water consumption can be reduced. Plastic shoppers can be reused.
The best tip I could come up with in terms of consumption of snacks was to have cheat days, twice a week at most, to consume my favourite biscuits, but in moderation otherwise there would be no use of going low waste.
I encourage my readers to examine their lifestyles and figure out where they can cut down on consumption, in order to lead a more sustainable lifestyle.