Raising Awareness in Dyers’ Community About the Safe Handling and Disposal of Dyes and Related Remedial Solutions

This project was aimed to build an understanding of the use of unauthentic dyes and chemicals and the impact they have both on the health of humans and environment. Students from the Department of Chemistry, University of Karachi were taught the impact of many dyes and food colors currently used in the market by local market dyers and food venders respectively. There is a high level of both metal content and carcinogenic chemicals present in the dyes. These are absorbed into the body through ingestion, breathing and skin absorption. The dyes also have an impact on our groundwater supplies as many are disposed off down the drain. The chemicals combine to form cocktails more harmful to health. On hot days the chemicals evaporate and the fumes are also inhaled. All these facts have made us to realize the need to raise awareness amongst the general public, which as consumers can induce venders to use higher quality products. This was done through questioning venders about the source of the dyes and food colorings used. The proposed project sought to raise the awareness about such dyes and issues by teaching students about dangers of unauthenticated dyes and food colors. The students were trained for safe handling and disposal of these hazardous compounds and surveyed the manufacturing plant having 0% discharge at Archroma, a renowned multinational company manufacturing dyes and specialty chemicals. The students were then asked to go to their local vendors and survey the current use of dyes and food colors. The survey forms were collected by the Department of Chemistry and data collated to indicate the current practices of both dye and knowledge of impacts in the local vendor communities in the city.